Systems and Methods for Assignment of Sales Leads

ABSTRACT

The invention provides systems and methods for processing sales leads. Illustratively, the invention provides a method of assigning sales leads in a network environment, the sales leads relating to persons interested in effecting a purchase, the method comprising: obtaining a lead, the lead including lead information relating to a person interested in effecting a purchase; loading the lead into a lead processing portion; determining if the lead is auto-assignable; assigning the lead to a sales agent; and outputting the lead information over the network environment to a lead distribution portion, so as to be accessible to the sales agent.

CROSS REFERENCE TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATION

The subject matter of this application is related to the subject matterof provisional application U.S. Ser. No. 60/440,343 filed Jan. 16, 2003(Attorney Docket No. 52493.252), assigned or under obligation ofassignment to the same entity as this application, from whichapplication priority is claimed for the present application. Provisionalapplication U.S. Ser. No. 60/440,343 is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The subject matter of the present application is related to:

U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 52493.253);U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 52493.311);U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 52493.312); andU.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 52493.313);each of which is filed concurrently herewith and incorporated byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The methods and systems of the invention relate to the processing ofsales leads.

In the insurance industry, as well as other industries, sales leads playan important role in the operations of a firm, company or other entity.The sales leads are obtained from any of a wide variety of sources. Forexample, the sales leads might come into a company from potentialcustomers as a result of direct mailings. The number of leads that arereceived every day may be in the hundreds or thousands. Further, acompany or other entity may utilize hundreds or thousands of agents,i.e., the persons who will ultimately work the leads with the potentialcustomers. The agents or other persons handling the leads may bedistributed over various regions and have varying expertise. Thesefactors, as well as others, result in the assignment and distribution ofleads, as well as other processing of the leads, being a complex processfor large companies, as well as small companies.

Further, conventional techniques of lead assignment, lead distributionand lead maintenance often include a reasonable amount of subjectivityand manual decision-making. This subjectivity and manual decision-makingcan often result in inefficiencies, as well as adverse attitudes from aperson or persons who might feel slighted by a particular decision,i.e., regarding the assignment of a lead, for example. Further, thesubjectivity and manual decision-making also add to the time consumingnature of the assignment and distribution of leads.

Further, the current processes associated with leads distribution toagents is paper intensive. Using conventional approaches, supportleaders in the regional offices, for example, print lead cards and mailthese paper documents to the agents. The agents work on these leads,mark the outcome and mail the lead cards to a further location, wherethe outcome or disposition of the sales leads are manually entered intothe system. In addition, while the agent is working the lead, there isno systemic mechanism of tracking activities on a given lead.

Further, problems relate to agent generated business, i.e., businessthat is generated by an agent as opposed to activities of the company.Using conventional techniques agent generated business may not bemonitored until an actual sale occurs. That is, agent generated businessis commonly performed without any pre-sales assignment or tracking.

Further, known systems and methods fail to allow effective maintenanceof leads. For example, shortcomings of existing systems includedeficiencies in tracking the history of a lead, deficiencies in trackingthe pre-sales activity of a lead, and lack of control over the timelyprocessing of the outcome of a lead.

The methods and systems of the invention address the above problems, aswell as other problems and shortcomings of known techniques forprocessing sales leads.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect, the invention provides a method ofassigning sales leads in a network environment, the sales leads relatingto persons interested in effecting a purchase, the method comprising:obtaining a lead, the lead including lead information relating to aperson interested in effecting a purchase; loading the lead into a leadprocessing portion; determining if the lead is auto-assignable;assigning the lead to a sales agent; and outputting the lead informationover the network environment to a lead distribution portion, so as to beaccessible to the sales agent.

In accordance with a further aspect, the invention provides acomputer-implemented system for assigning sales leads in a networkenvironment, the sales leads relating to persons interested in effectinga purchase, the computer-implemented system comprising: a data entryportion through which a lead is obtained, the lead including leadinformation relating to a person interested in effecting a purchase; alead processing portion into which the lead is loaded from the dataentry portion, the lead processing portion determining if the lead isauto-assignable, and the lead processing portion assigning the lead to asales agent; and the lead processing portion outputting the leadinformation over the network environment to a lead distribution portion,so as to be accessible to the sales agent.

Accordingly, a technical effect, utility and/or contribution for thedisclosed inventive technology is to provide systems and methods forprocessing sales leads using a variety of techniques, as set forthbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by reading thefollowing detailed description together with the accompanying drawings,in which like reference indicators are used to designate like elements,and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a sales lead system in accordance withone embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the lead processing portion of FIG. 1in further detail in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the memory portion of FIG. 2 infurther detail in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the web based lead system of FIG. 1 infurther detail in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a lead process in accordance with oneembodiment of the method of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the “determine if the lead isauto-assignable” step of FIG. 5 in further detail in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the “assign the auto-assignable leads”step of FIG. 5 in further detail in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the “process the A-lead” step of FIG. 7in further detail in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the “determine pool of agents that mayhandle the A-lead” step of FIG. 8 in further detail in accordance withone embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the “determine particular agent in poolthat will handle the A-lead” step of FIG. 8 in further detail inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the “process the B-lead” step of FIG. 7in further detail in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing the “determine pool of agents that mayhandle B-lead” step of FIG. 11 in further detail in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the “determine particular agent in poolthat will handle B-lead” step of FIG. 11 in further detail in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing automated assignment of leads inaccordance with a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an agent performance profile “scoringmodel” in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing different dispositions of leads inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing the “agent accesses lead information inthe lead system and works the leads” step of FIG. 5 in further detail inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing the “agent accesses leads information”step of FIG. 17 in further detail in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing the “agent accesses agent generatedbusiness” step of FIG. 17 in further detail in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing the “agent accesses activities” step ofFIG. 17 in further detail in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 21 is a flow chart showing the “agent accesses calendar” step ofFIG. 17 in further detail in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 22 is a flow diagram showing further aspects of an agent utilizingthe web based lead system in accordance with one embodiment of thesystem and method of the invention;

FIG. 23 is a table showing various lead assignment criteria inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 24 is a table showing further lead assignment criteria inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 25 is a table showing further lead assignment criteria inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing further details of the “perform new leadvalidation process” step of FIG. 5 in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing in further detail the “system processesworked leads based on disposition” step of FIG. 5 in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing a weekly call center process inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing the perform database procedure todisqualify or qualify a call center from the distribution of leads by anassignment manager in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, aspects of the systems and methods of the invention inaccordance with the various embodiments will be described. As usedherein, any term in the singular may be interpreted to be in the plural,and alternatively, any term in the plural may be interpreted to be inthe singular.

The systems and methods of the invention are directed to the abovestated problems, as well as other problems, that are present inconventional techniques. The foregoing description of various products,methods, or apparatus and attendant disadvantages described in the“Background of the Invention” is in no way intended to limit the scopeof the invention, or to imply that the invention does not include someor all of various elements of known products, methods, and/or apparatusin one form or another. Indeed, various embodiments of the invention maybe capable of overcoming some of the disadvantages noted in the“Background of the Invention,” while still retaining some or all of thevarious elements of known products, methods, and apparatus in one formor another.

The system and method of the invention provide for the digitized andautomated processing of sales leads. In accordance with aspects of theinvention, a set of rules is used to provide the logic for the initialassignment of sales leads to agents. Further, automated processing isused for the distribution of the leads. In accordance with oneembodiment of the invention, the method uses a calculated score forevery agent to which leads might be assigned. This score may becharacterized as an “Agent Performance Profile (APPS) Score. Furtherprocessing is provided by the systems and methods of the invention tomonitor and control the sales lead after release to an agent. Forexample, the system allows for an agent to provide updates regarding thestatus of a lead, an agent to check on their overall leads inventory,for the effective determination that a lead is appropriately classifiedas agent generated business, and for the effective resurrection of alead after the lead has been temporarily shelved, as well as a varietyof other processing associated with the sales lead.

Various aspects of the systems and methods of the invention aredescribed herein as implemented in conjunction with, or utilized by, an“agent” or a “sales agent” As used herein, an “agent” or “sales agent”may be interpreted to mean an individual who is assigned “sales leads”,i.e., leads, with the objective of attaining sales based upon thosesales leads including working with a person to effect a purchase.Further, the sales lead results from a person, who is interested inmaking the purchase, submitting information, i.e., such as a personresponding to a mailing from an insurance provider, for example. Theterm “purchase” as used herein means the acquisition by the person of aproduct, a service, a lease, a rental, or any other transaction in whicha person gives something anticipating something in return.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a group of leadsmight be generated by performing a mass mailing requesting interestedpersons to mail in a completed form. In response, interested personscomplete and mail the requested form to a designated central location,for example. Data entry persons at the designated central location thenenter the data from each form into a database, i.e., so as to constitutea lead. A group of leads, once collected, may then be channeled to aregional office, for example, in a batch. The zip code associated witheach lead may be used for this batch processing.

Once at the regional office, for example, an automated assignmentsystem, as described in detail below, is used to assign and distributethe leads to the agents automatically. That is, for example, each leadcategorized as an ‘A’ lead, i.e., a lead that has not been workedbefore, is scored using a set of rules and is assigned to an agent atthe regional office. The assignment of the A-leads may use an agent'sscore. The release or distribution of the leads may be performed usingwhat might be characterized as a web based lead system, also describedin detail below. The systems and methods of the invention also providefor the processing of what is herein characterized as B-leads, i.e.,leads that have been processed before, but that have been shelved forsome reason. As used herein, the term “worked lead” or an agent “workinga lead” or similar language means that an agent has been assigned to asales lead, in order to try to secure a sale based on that lead, andthat the agent has taken some steps to bring about such a sale, such asmaking calls to the person, researching the lead and/or setting up anappointment, for example.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, once leads arereceived in the regional offices, the leads are then digitally releasedto the agents. However, there is also provision provided for manualassignment of leads where necessary. Further, sales support leaders andregional office managers, for example, may overwrite an agentrecommended by the automated processing. As noted above, the systems andmethods of the invention, in accordance with one embodiment, utilizes ascoring system. The scoring system is used in the system and method ofthe invention to put lead resources, which may be limited, into thehands of those most likely to convert the sales leads to sales.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a web-based tool is usedto distribute leads to the agents via the web. The web based lead systemmay be connected to a processing portion that handles release of theleads to the agents. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention,agents log on to the web based lead system and click on a suitableaccess link. Upon authorization of user and password, for example, a webwindow pops up with a page bearing various leads information.Functionalities of the web based lead system include accessing a varietyof lead details, updating lead information, entering agent generatedbusiness, submitting sale confirmation information that might beforwarded on to a company legacy system, entering activities involved inthe sale of a lead, and use of a calendar feature, for example.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a sales lead system 10 in accordancewith one embodiment of the system of the invention. As shown, the leadsystem 10 includes an entity system 30. The entity system 30 is thebusiness entity that supports numerous agents in a particular region orterritory, for example, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. The entity system 30 might constitute a regional office, forexample. As described above, a batch of new leads may be forwarded froma central data entry portion 36 to the entity system 30. The data entryportion 36 may be in a wide variety of forms, such as a large centralfacility or a person working from a PC at home. The new leads areforwarded to the entity system 30 for assignment and distribution of thenew leads, as is discussed in detail below. For example, the new leadsmight be forwarded to the entity system 30 based on the zip code of thenew lead. The sales leads might be obtained from a variety of sources,including mass mailings as noted above or from the agents themselves.

The agents that interact with the entity system 30 may be disposed atmultiple web clients (80), in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. The entity system 30 communicates information to and from theweb clients (80), via a web based lead system 100, to process salesleads that are obtained by the entity system 30. Further, agents maysubmit new lead information to the entity system 30 by utilizing the webclients (80). Further, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a sales managementperson may interact with the entity system 30 through a web client 80′.

As shown in FIG. 1, the entity system 30 includes a lead processingportion 40 and a web interface processing portion 32. The leadprocessing portion 40 performs a wide variety of processing relating tosales leads. Further, the web interface processing portion 32 providesvarious functionality relating to the communication of the entity system30 with the web clients (80, 80′). Further details of the leadprocessing portion 40 and the web interface processing portion 32 willbe described below.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the entity system 30is disposed in a secured intranet 12. The entity system 30, andspecifically the web interface processing portion 32, is incommunication with a web server 70. The web server 70 is disposed in atrusted extranet 14, as shown in FIG. 1. The secured intranet 12 and thetrusted extranet 14 are separated from each other by an intranetfirewall 22, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Theentity system 30 and the web server 70 may communicate with each otherusing a suitable communication channel 23 or in any other suitablemanner.

In turn, the web server 70 communicates with the various web clients,i.e., the agents, via the internet 18 and the web based lead system 100,which serves as a lead distribution portion. Specifically, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention, the web server 70 outputs andreceives various information from a web based lead system 100. Asdescribed in detail below, the web based lead system 100 serves as awindow through which a variety of information may be received from andconveyed to the lead processing portion 40 (via the web server 70),i.e., such as information that is obtained from agents. In accordancewith one aspect of the invention, each of the web clients 80 may accessthe lead processing portion 40, via the web based lead system 100, toobtain information regarding new leads, existing leads, and variousactivities that the agents are engaged in, for example. Accordingly, theweb based lead system 100 acts as a lead distribution portion throughwhich agents and supervisory type persons may access a variety ofinformation that is stored in the lead processing portion 40, oralternatively, that is accessible through the lead processing portion40.

Accordingly, the web server 70, the web clients 80, and the web basedlead system 100 are connected to each other via the internet 80, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. The web clients 80 andthe web based lead system 100 are accessed over the internet and thusare disposed in what might be characterized as a non-trusted extranet16. The web server 70 on the trusted extranet 14 may be separated fromthe internet 18, using a suitable extranet firewall 24.

However, it is to be appreciated that a variety of arrangements may beused in accordance with different embodiments of the invention. Forexample, while the intranet firewall 22 and the extranet firewall 24 areutilized in the illustrative system of FIG. 1, it may be the particularsituation that a firewall is not required. Alternatively, for example,the web based lead system 100 might be disposed on the secured intranet12, i.e., in such a manner that the various web clients 80 could accessthe web based lead system 100. In such a situation, it may also not berequired to utilize firewalls. Various other arrangements andcommunication schemes may be used as is suitable or desired.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the lead processing portion 40 of FIG.1 in further detail, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.As described above, the lead processing portion 40 is connected to theweb interface processing portion 32. In turn, the web interfaceprocessing portion 32 is in communication with the web based lead system100.

Also, FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface portion 34. The user interfaceportion 34 allows a user to interface with the lead processing portion40. For example, such a user might be an administrator or salesmanagement person, for example. The user interface portion 34 may takeon a wide variety of forms, as desired. For example, the user interfaceportion 34 might be a computer disposed in the secured intranet 12 whichinterfaces with the human user utilizing a key pad and monitor. The userinterface portion 34 may provide a sales management person with theability to view sales agents activities in real time, i.e., as thoseagents enter information using the web clients 80.

As shown in FIG. 2, the lead processing portion 40 includes a controlportion 42. The control portion 42 controls overall operations of thelead processing portion 40, which are not otherwise handled by thevarious processing portions as described below.

The lead processing portion also includes a lead dispositioning portion43. The lead dispositioning portion 43 inputs disposition codes that areassigned to a lead or leads. Based on the disposition code, the leaddispositioning portion 43 assigns processing to be effected on suchleads, as is described further below.

The lead processing portion 40 also includes a lead input portion 44, alead classification portion 45, an agent scoring portion 46 and a leadassignment criteria portion 47. The lead input portion 44 receives datatransmissions from the data entry portion 36, for example, to input abatch of new sales leads. The lead classification portion 45 performsvarious processing on the various leads that are received in order toappropriately classify the leads. The various portions of the leadprocessing portion 40 may be connected utilizing a suitable interface41.

The lead processing portion 40 also includes the agent scoring portion46. The agent scoring portion 46 performs various processing associatedwith the respective agents. That is, the agent scoring portion 46retrieves various information regarding the agents from an agent memoryportion 68, for example. The agent scoring portion 46 processes thisinformation to generate a score for each agent. This score is then laterused in the method of the invention to determine which leads should beassigned to which agents.

The lead processing portion 40 also includes the lead assignmentcriteria portion 47. The lead assignment criteria portion 47 containsparameters used in the processing of leads. For example, the number ofleads that a particular agent might handle at one time may be stored inthe lead assignment criteria portion 47, as well as other parameters.These parameters may be changed, as desired. The lead assignmentcriteria portion 47 might interact with a user so as to allow the userto change the lead assignment criteria in the lead assignment criteriaportion 47. Further details of the lead assignment criteria portion 47and its operations will also be described below.

The lead processing portion 40 also includes a lead distribution portion48. The lead distribution portion 48 works in conjunction with the webinterface processing portion 32 to distribute the leads to the selectedagent. That is, the lead distribution portion 48 outputs informationregarding the sales lead and the selected agent to the web based leadsystem 100. Further details of operation of the lead distributionportion 48 will be described below.

Also, the lead processing portion 40 includes a lead validation portion49. The lead validation portion 49 performs processing of new leads todetermine whether the leads are valid. In particular, the leadvalidation portion 49 considers whether a new lead submitted by an agentis a duplicate lead or is correctly considered “agent generatedbusiness,” in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, asdescribed below. The question of whether a lead is or is not agentgenerated business may typically affect the commissions that the agentreceives for that particular lead.

In accordance with one embodiment of the system and method of theinvention, the lead processing portion 40 also includes an assignmentmanager portion 50. The assignment manager portion 50 includes an agentpool generation portion 52 and an agent selection portion 54. The agentpool generation portion 52 generates a pool of agents, i.e., candidateagents, that are eligible for working on a particular marketing lead.The agent pool generation portion 52 may utilize both criteria of thelead as well as criteria of the respective agents to determine a match.

Further, the assignment manager portion 50 includes the agent selectionportion 54. As described herein, the agent pool generation portion 52forms a pool of candidate agents to process a particular marketing lead.The agent selection portion 54 performs further processing based on theprocessing performed by the agent pool generation portion 52. That is,the agent selection portion 54, if possible, selects a particular agent,i.e., a selected agent, from the pool of candidate agents. The selectedagent is thus the agent that will work on the lead, absent manualintervention by a sales manager, for example. It might be the situationthat a plurality of agents are so similarly situated that the agentselection portion 54 cannot discern between a final number of agents. Asa result, it might be the situation that the agent selection portion 52randomly selects between the final similarly situated agents.

The lead processing portion 40 also includes a memory portion 60. Thememory portion 60 stores a wide variety of data and other informationthat is utilized by the lead processing portion 40. For example, thememory portion 60 may contain data regarding leads and data containingagents, as well as any operating programs utilized by the leadprocessing portion 40. The memory portion 60 may utilize suitable databases, such as relational or flat databases, as is desired.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing in further detail the memory portion60, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG.3, the memory portion 60 includes an application memory portion 62, aleads memory portion 64, an operating parameters memory portion 66 andan agent memory portion 68. The various portions of the memory portion60 may be connected utilizing a suitable interface 41, in a similarmanner to the various components of the lead processing portion 40, asdescribed above.

The application memory portion 62 contains various programs that areutilized by the lead processing portion 40. The leads memory portion 64contains various information regarding leads. For example, the leadsmemory portion 64 might contain information regarding new leads.Further, the leads memory portion 64 typically contains informationregarding existing leads that agents are currently working. Accordingly,for example, new leads may be compared with existing leads to determineif any of the new leads are in fact duplicates.

As shown in FIG. 3, the memory portion 60 also includes the operatingparameters memory portion 66. The operating parameters memory portion 66contains various criteria that are utilized in the processing performedby the lead processing portion 40. For example, the operating parametersmemory portion 66 may contain the maximum number of leads that an agentmight possess in the agent's inventory or the maximum number of leadsthat might be assigned to an agent in a week. Further details of variousoperating parameters are described below.

The memory portion 60 as shown in FIG. 3 also contains the agent memoryportion 68. The agent memory portion 68 contains various informationregarding agents, and in particular, the agents that are available towork a lead. The information stored in the agent memory portion 68 mightinclude information regarding an agent's current lead inventory,information regarding past performance of an agent and/or informationregarding special expertise or skills that an agent possesses, forexample.

It should of course be appreciated that the agent memory portion 68 andthe leads memory portion 64, for example, may collectively be accessedby a user, i.e., to use the data stored in both. For example, a usermight retrieve information regarding a particular agent from the agentmemory portion 68; retrieve any leads that the particular agent ishandling; and thereafter retrieve more detailed information regardingthose leads from the leads memory portion 64.

As described above, the entity system 30 (containing the lead processingportion 40) interfaces with the web based lead system 100 across theInternet or other network. The web based lead system 100 may becharacterized as a lead distribution portion. FIG. 4 is a block diagramshowing further details of the web based lead system 100, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

The web based lead system 100 includes a web interface processingportion 102. The web interface processing portion 102 allowscommunication between the web based lead system 100 and the Internet 18.Also, the web based lead system 100 includes a leads data input portion104. Once new leads are input into the web based lead system 100,utilizing the web interface processing portion 102, this information isinitially processed by the leads data input portion 104 and output to anagent at the agents terminal, for example. Accordingly, the various dataused and accessed by an agent or other person via the web based leadsystem 100 is not stored in the web based lead system 100, but rather issimply transmitted from the lead processing portion 40 to an agent, forexample, through the web based lead system 100. Alternatively, the datamight be transmitted to the web based lead system 100 from the leadprocessing portion so as to be stored, perhaps temporarily, in the webbased lead system 100.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the leads data inputportion 104 stores the new lead information in a lead system memoryportion 110. The lead system memory portion 110 operates as a generalpurpose memory in the web based lead system 100. Accordingly, the webbased lead system memory portion 110 may be utilized to store any of awide variety of data, programs, or other information utilized by the webbased lead system 100.

As shown in FIG. 4, the web based lead system 100 also includes a leadsprocessing portion 120, an activities processing portion 130, an agentgenerated lead (AGL) processing portion 140, and a calendar processingportion 150. These components of the web based lead system 100 interactwith, and provide information to, an agent upon that agent logging ontothe web based lead system 100. Accordingly, the leads processing portion120 interacts with the agent, as well as other users, to provide theagent various information associated with sales leads. Further, theactivities processing portion 130 interfaces with an agent user toprovide the user with various information regarding activities. Theagent generated lead processing portion 140 interfaces with a user toprovide the user with various information relating to agent generatedleads, i.e., leads that the agent has generated. The calendar processingportion 150 provides the user agent with various information regardingthat particular agent's calendar. Further details of each of thecomponents of the web based lead system 100 are described below.

The web based lead system 100 also includes a print processing portion160. The print processing portion 160 interacts with an agent, who isusing the web based lead system 100, to allow the agent to print reportsor updates, for example, regarding the leads that the agent is working.The completed report might then be forwarded to the agent's supervisor.The report might also be saved in the memory portion 110.

The web based lead system 100 also includes a lead disposition portion170. The lead disposition portion 170 performs processing in conjunctionwith an agent's processor 80 and/or sales manager's processor to effectdispositioning of a lead, as described in detail below.

The web based lead system 100 also includes a control portion 190. Thecontrol portion 190 operates to control overall operations of the webbased lead system 100 that not performed by the more specializedoperating portions described herein. For example, the control portion190 might perform a wide variety of operations such as to coordinateoperations of the various components of the web based lead system 100,control load balancing of a CPU and/or perform error recoveryoperations.

It is appreciated that the web based lead system 100 is herein describedas being accessible over the web. However, in accordance with differentembodiments of the invention, the lead system 100, as described herein,might instead be accessible over some other suitable network, i.e., andnot necessarily via the world wide web or the Internet.

In accordance with the various embodiments of the invention, there are avariety of criteria that are considered in processing of the leads ofthe invention. FIGS. 23-25 are illustrative of criteria that may beused, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. It should ofcourse be appreciated that other criteria may also be used in processingof the leads. The various “lead assignment criteria of FIGS. 23-25relate to sales leads, the various agents that might handle the lead, aswell as particular processing constraints that are utilized, forexample. Hereinafter, the various lead assignment criteria will bedescribed. FIGS. 23-25 show a description of the particular criteria andwho or what is associated with the criteria. Further, FIG. 23 showsprocessing aspects of the criteria.

As shown in FIG. 23, the first criteria that may be used in theprocessing of a lead is “territory” or region. In accordance with oneembodiment of the invention, territories are assigned to each agent. Insome situations, a particular agent might be capable of handling leadsin two or more territories. Further, each lead is typically associatedwith a territory. In this case relating to “territory” criteria, a SalesSupport Leader or other sales manager might be designated forcontrolling and monitoring the territories that are assigned to eachagent. The “territory” criteria may be stored in an appropriate field ina data set that is associated with a given agent, i.e., such as in theagent memory portion 68, for example.

A further criteria is “position” as shown in FIG. 23. Each agent orother person who might work a lead may be associated with a particular“position.” For example, different positions might include a new agent,experienced agent, or a telemarketing agent. Appropriate criteria areassigned based on the position, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. Further, separate rules might be used in the agent selectionprocess based on the particular position, i.e., the rules may varybetween positions. For example, separate rules might be used to specifythe workload for telemarketing positions versus a new agent workload.Persons who might monitor and control the “position” include salesmanagement persons and/or a teleservices manager, for example. The“Position” criteria may be stored in an appropriate field in a data setthat is associated with a given agent. In order to effect a change, thesales manager, for example, simply changes the data in the field, i.e.,in the data record associated with the particular agent. Further, thesystems and methods of the invention may use various automated processesin conjunction with the “position.” For example, the system mightautomatically update an agent's record to reflect the transition of a“new agent” to an “experienced agent.”

A further criteria is an “endorsement” criteria. To explain, aninsurance entity that processes sales leads, as described herein, maycommonly have a contract or other agreement with a company. Under theagreement, the company provides its membership lists to the insuranceentity. The insurance entity, in turn, effects mailings to employees ofthe company. Interested employees then respond to the insurance entity.Typically, the particular offer made to the employees of the company isspecifically crafted for the particular company. As a result, it can beappreciated that particular expertise is helpful to an agent inprocessing such endorsed leads.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, “endorsement”criteria is associated with a particular agent to reflect a particularskill that an agent possesses. Relatedly, a particular lead will beflagged as requiring a particular endorsement. That is, the agent flagreflecting an endorsement is compared to a flag on the lead thatrequires an endorsement. In accordance with one embodiment of theinvention, agents that do not have the required endorsement will beprecluded from working that particular lead. On the other hand, an agentmight not be precluded from working a particular lead, but might insteadbe awarded extra points for having a desired, but not required,endorsement. Persons who might monitor and control the “endorsement”criteria include various sales managers, for example. The “endorsement”criteria may be stored in an appropriate field in a data set that isassociated with a given agent.

A further criteria that may be considered in processing leads is “leadcredit balance” (LCB) criteria. For example, the method may require the(LCB >0), i.e., that an agent must have at least one lead credit inorder to get leads in that assignment session. In accordance with oneembodiment of the invention, the lead processing portion 40 of FIG. 1automatically handles the LCB associated with each agent. The particularLCB criteria may be implemented in the assignment rules and varied asdesired. Aspects of the lead credit balance are further described below.

A further “specialized” criteria relates to whether a lead is associatedwith a particular insurance company, in accordance with one embodimentof the invention, or if the lead is in some other way specialized. Asuitable flag for each agent is created that will reflect the skillneeded. This flag is then compared to an appropriate code on aparticular lead to determine if an agent should be considered forworking a lead. Persons who might monitor and control this “specialized”criteria include various sales managers, for example. This “specialized”criteria may be stored in an appropriate field in a data set that isassociated with a given agent.

A further criteria is a “get leads” criteria. This flag must be true inorder for an agent to get leads, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. Accordingly, this flag allows an agent to be blocked fromreceiving further assignments. Persons who might monitor and controlthis “get leads” criteria include various sales managers, for example.This “get leads” criteria may be stored in an appropriate field in adata set that is associated with a given agent.

A further criteria is the “channel” criteria, as shown in FIG. 23. Inthis criteria, rules will be created that always route certain leads topositions associated with alternative channels. As used herein, a“channel” means a particular way of processing a lead. For example, acareer agent processing a lead is one channel and using a call center isanother channel. Selling a policy through a bank or a brokerage firmmight be a yet further channel, for example. In accordance with oneembodiment of the invention, the lead processing portion 40automatically handles processing associated with the “channel” criteria.That is, special rules may be set up to route leads to a particularchannel.

With further reference to FIG. 23, a further criteria is a “lockassignment” criteria. This flag must for set for “false” in order for alead to be part of the assignment process. Persons who might monitor andcontrol this “lock assignment” criteria include various sales managers,for example. Further, the criteria might be automatically controlled bythe lead processing portion 40, for example.

FIG. 24 shows further criteria in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention, including “resurrection date” criteria. This criteria relatesto a situation where a lead has been worked by an agent, but work isdelayed for a period of time. At the time the decision is made to delaywork on the lead, a resurrection date may be assigned. This is the datethat the lead will again be picked up by an agent to be worked.Accordingly, a lead must have a resurrection date equal to or earlierthan the current date in order to be assigned to an agent. This criteriais typically automated and set based on the disposition of a particularlead.

A further criteria is “Release Flag” criteria, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. This flag must be set in order for an agentto see a lead. This is the situation where a lead has been assigned toan agent, but for one reason or another, the lead is not yet ready to beworked. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, leads whichare not released, i.e., that do not have the “release” flag set, are notassigned through the assignment manager 50, but rather are held in aqueue in the lead processing portion 40. This flag may be controlled byan sales manager and/or automated in some fashion.

Another criteria that is used in the processing of leads is the “agentprofile score.” The agent profile score may be based on a variety ofcriteria, as desired. In accordance with one embodiment of theinvention, the agent profile score is updated weekly so as to prioritizeagents for the assignment of leads. This updating of the agent profilescore may be done automatically.

Another criteria is the “A-lead conversion” criteria. This criteria ishandled automatically by the lead processing portion 40, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention. The A-lead conversion criteria isa metric of how many A-leads are required for an agent to achieve asale. For example, the metric might be the ratio, over some time period,between the average number of A-leads in the agent's inventory and salesof the agent.

A further criteria is the “appointments seen” criteria. This criteriarelates to the value, which is associated to an agent, of how manyappointments were seen in a given week, for example. As an agent hasmore appointments the “appointments seen” value is increased for thatparticular agent. This criteria is automated, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

A further criteria is the “A-Lead Inventory.” This is a parameter,associated with an agent, that keeps track of how many A-leads” an agenthas in her inventory. This criteria may be automated and updated weekly,for example, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Toexplain further, leads are characterized as an A-lead or a B-lead, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention, as described below. Itshould further be appreciated that the number of B-leads in an agent'sinventory may also be a criteria upon which lead assignment is based.

As noted above, a further criteria is “lead credit balance (LCB).” Inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention, a “lead credit” of aparticular value is assigned when an agent converts a lead to sales.Further, when an agent is assigned a new lead, a lead credit is takenaway from the agent, for example. In this manner, the total inventory ofthe agent may be further monitored and controlled. The LCB might becharacterized as a running balance of leads that the agent has in theirinventory. Further, the LCB reflects a level of efficiency of the agent.An amount that a particular lead, which is sold, may vary based on aparticular premium that is associated with that lead. Accordingly, onelead may well be worth more to the agent than another lead, i.e., interms of the agent's lead credit balance. The lead credit balance may beautomatically adjusted by the lead processing portion 40, for example.

A further criteria is the percent of agent generated leads (AGL). Thiscriteria monitors how much business the particular agent has submitted.This criteria may be automated and controlled by the lead processingportion 40, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

With reference now to FIG. 25, a further criteria is the “default rule”criteria. This criteria relates to the situation where no agent in aparticular region, for example, qualifies for a particular lead. Thatis, there needs to be a position in each region to which leads areassigned if no one else qualifies for the lead. The lead processingportion 40 may automatically implement this default rule, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

A further criteria is an “A-lead” cap. This criteria designates themaximum number of A-leads that may be assigned to a particular agent.This criteria may be implemented by the lead processing portion 40. Forexample, this rule might designate that an agent may have no more than250 A-leads. As should be appreciated, it is desirable that thiscriteria be easily changed. In a similar manner, a further criteria isthe number of “B-leads” that is assigned to a particular agent.

A last criteria, as shown in FIG. 25, is an “A-Leads Weekly” criteria,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. This criteriadesignates the number of A-leads that are assigned to an agent in aweek. For example, a rule may be used by the lead processing portion 40that allows an agent to have no more than 20 A-leads assigned in thecurrent week.

It should of course be appreciated that other criteria, in addition tothose criteria discussed above, may be used as is desired or necessary.Hereinafter, further aspects in accordance with embodiments of theinvention, and implementation of the criteria, will be described withreference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a high level flow chart showing the lead process in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention. It should be appreciated that thelead process as shown in FIG. 5 may be performed by the operating systemshown in FIGS. 1-4 and described above. Alternatively, the process asshown in FIG. 5 might be performed by another suitable operating system.

As shown in FIG. 5, the lead process in accordance with one embodimentof the invention starts in step 190. Then, the process passes to step200. In step 200, a lead is received by the lead processing portion 40,which may be disposed in a particular regional office, for example. Thelead may be received from a variety of sources such as a central dataentry portion, as described above. Further, the lead might typically bebatched with other leads. Also, the lead might be received from anagent, i.e., so as to constitute an agent generated. Alternatively, thelead might be a B-lead that has been resurrected, i.e., a lead that hasbeen worked before. After step 200 of FIG. 5, the process passes to step220. In step 220, the lead is loaded. That is, the lead is loaded into asuitable memory, such as the leads memory 64, or in some other mannerretained in the lead processing portion 40. The lead may be assigned alead identifier number in conjunction with loading the lead, which isfurther described below.

After step 220 of FIG. 5, the process passes to step 250. In step 250,an initial validation process is performed on the new lead. Inparticular, the validation process of step 250 is directed to a leadthat has been initiated by an agent, i.e., so as to constitute agentgenerated business. It is particularly important to determine whethersuch a lead is a valid non-duplicative lead due to agent commissions.That is, an agent may well obtain a higher commission for business thatthe agent herself generates, as opposed to sales from leads that thecompany generates. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention,the new lead validation portion may be performed by the new leadvalidation portion 49, as shown in FIG. 2.

After step 250, the process passes to step 300. In step 300, the processdetermines if the particular lead is an auto-assignable lead. That is,the process determines whether the lead is capable of being assignedautomatically. Further details of step 300 are described below in FIG.6. After step 300, the process passes to step 400. In step 400, assumingthat the lead is auto-assignable, the process assigns theauto-assignable lead to a particular agent. Further details of step 400are described below with reference to FIG. 7.

After step 400, the process passes to step 790. In step 790, the lead isdistributed. That is, for example, the lead is output from the leadprocessing portion 40 to the web based lead system 100, as shown inFIG. 1. Once the lead is communicated to and disposed in (or availablethrough) the web based lead system 100, the designated agent may accessthe lead utilizing a web client 80. That is, after step 790, the processpasses to step 800. It is noted that the various lead information may betypically transmitted to the lead processing portion so that the variouslead information may be viewed by an agent or other person, but that thelead information may typically not be stored in the web based leadsystem. Accordingly, the web based lead system simply acts as a conduitbetween the agent and the lead processing portion 40, in accordance withone embodiment of the invention. In other embodiments, the leadinformation might indeed be stored in the web based lead system.

In step 800, the agent accesses information regarding the new lead, aswell as a variety of other information. Also, in step 800, the agentworks the lead. As the agent works the lead, the agent provides updatesto the system regarding the status of the lead. The updates may then beused for further automatic processing by the sales lead system 10 and/orviewed by a supervisor or manager, for example.

After step 800, the process passes to step 890. In step 890, the processallows for a sales management person to enter or effect the entry ofdisposition information. For example, the sales management personworking at a sales management processor 80′ may enter search criteria toperform a search of particular leads. For example, the search might befor endorsed leads that have not been worked in the past 45 days. Uponreceiving the results of the search, the sales management person mightassign a disposition code to all the leads that were identified in thesearch. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, thedisposition code is then sent back to the lead dispositioning portion 48in the lead processing portion 40 for processing. That is, based on thedispositioning code, the lead is subject to particular processing, asdescribed below. It is appreciated that the sales management personmight not herself effect the search for particular leads and theassignment of the disposition to the lead, i.e., the sales managementperson might effect such processing by working with other technicalpersons, for example.

After step 890, the process passes to step 900. In step 900, the methodof the invention processes worked leads based on the disposition of theworked leads. That is, when the lead is dispositioned, the lead iseither suppressed or the lead is reworked, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. As reflected in step 980 of FIG. 5, if thelead is to be reworked, the process passes back to step 300.Alternatively, if the lead is suppressed, then, in step 990, the processends, i.e., the process ends for that particular lead. The processing ofa lead might be terminated as a result of the lead resulting in a sale,or a refusal of sale by a potential customer, for example.

With reference to step 250 of FIG. 5, it should be appreciated that avariety of steps may be performed on a lead to verify that the lead isindeed a valid lead. In particular, this validation may occur in thesituation where an agent herself has submitted the lead for processing.For purposes of further description of the invention with reference toFIGS. 6-25 below, it is assumed that the particular lead is indeed avalid lead. However, further details of the process of step 250,including the situation where a lead is not a valid lead, will bedescribed below with reference to FIG. 26, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing in further detail the “determine if thelead is auto-assignable” step 300 of FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 6, thesubprocess starts in step 300 and passes to step 302. In step 302, adetermination is made whether the lead is a non-assignable lead type.That is, some types of leads may be of a nature so that the sales entityprocessing the leads does not want to auto-assign such leads. An exampleof a non-assignable type is an agent generated lead (AGL) or agentgenerated business (AGB), i.e., since the agent who generated the leadwill typically work that particular lead. If the lead is indeed anon-assignable lead type in step 302, the process passes to step 320. Instep 320, the auto-assignment process ends for that particular lead,i.e., since the lead is not eligible for auto-assignment.

However, if the lead is not a non-assignable lead type, i.e., no in step302, the process passes from step 302 to step 304. In step 304, theprocess determines whether the lead is coming from telemarketing with anappointment and not assigned to an agent. That is, this is one exampleof a special situation. If no in step 304, then the lead is still acandidate for auto-assignment. That is, the process passes from step 304to step 306. Alternatively, if yes in step 304, the process passes tostep 320.

In step 306, the process determines whether the lead has beentransferred from one region to another. That is, the illustrative step306 shows a further type of lead situation that might be problematic soas to not automatically assign the lead. If no in step 306, then thelead is still a candidate for auto-assignment. That is, the processpasses from step 306 to step 308. Alternatively, if yes in step 306, theprocess again passes to step 320.

In step 308, the process determines whether the “resurrection date” hasbeen reached, i.e., the date that the lead will again be taken up to beworked. That is, step 308 of FIG. 6 addresses an aspect of processingB-leads, i.e., leads that have been previously worked. If yes in step308, the process passes from step 308 to step 316. Alternatively, if noin step 308, the process again passes to step 320, i.e., the lead is notyet ready to be reworked and thus is not eligible for auto-assignment.

Relating to resurrection of a lead, it is further noted, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention, that the process might not takeinto account the particular agent who previously worked a particularlead. That is, the agent who worked a particular lead previously wouldnot receive any deference over any other agent in the auto-assignmentprocess for that particular lead.

Returning to FIG. 6, in step 316, the process deems that the lead isindeed eligible for auto-assignment. As a result, the process might tagthat particular lead as auto-assignable or provide another indicia ordata, which is associated with the lead, to tag the lead as autoassignable. This might be the case if a batch processing approach isused. However, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, instep 316, a lead is deemed eligible for auto-assignment and thenprocessed immediately. Accordingly, the lead is not tagged or coded, butmerely immediately forwarded for auto-assignment.

It should be appreciated that a lead may be not be automaticallyassignable due to a variety of circumstances. Illustratively, step 304shows a special situation in which a lead comes from telemarketing withan appointment and without being assigned to an agent. This is onesituation in which the lead processing portion 40 determines thatattributes associated with the lead are problematic. As a result of ayes determination in step 304, the process passes from step 304 to step320.

Further, the problematic situation noted above may indeed be present instep 306, i.e., the lead may have indeed been transferred from oneregion to another. This is another situation where the lead will not beautomatically assigned. If yes in step 306, the process passes from step306 to step 320.

Further, it might be the case in step 308 that the “resurrection date”for the lead, i.e., a B-lead has not yet been reached. Accordingly, ifno in step 308, the lead will not be designated as auto-assignable. Thatis, the process passes from step 308 to step 320. As noted above, theprocess ends in step 320 for that particular lead.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing in further detail the “assign theauto-assignable leads” step 400 of FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 7, theprocess starts in step 400 and passes to step 440.

Step 440 illustrates that the leads may be assigned in waves. Forexample, a code may be associated with a lead to determine which wavethat the particular lead might belong. A first wave of leads may includeall leads that are A-leads that are endorsed. Further, a second wavemight include all non-endorsed A-leads that are greater than 30 daysold. Further, a third wave might include all non-endorsed A-leads thatare greater than 15 days old. Subsequent waves may include B-leads, thatare similarly assigned in waves based on the age of the B-lead. Leadsmay be assigned in waves both for leads that are being assigned to anagent, as well as leads that are being assigned to a call center, as isdescribed further below.

After step 440, the process passes to step 450 for the particular leadsthat are in the current wave being processed. The process of FIG. 7 willpass to step 450 at some later time for leads that are in subsequentwaves.

In step 450, the process determines whether the lead is an A-lead, inaccordance with one illustrative embodiment of the invention. That is,step 450 is illustrative that different types of processing are effectedupon different types of leads, i.e., leads that have been classifieddifferently. If yes in step 450, then the process passes to step 500. Instep 500, the A-lead is processed so as to assign the A-lead to anagent. After step 500, the process passes to step 484, as shown in FIG.7. In step 484, the process returns to step 800 as shown in FIG. 5.

Alternatively, in step 450, the process may determine that the lead isnot an A-lead. As a result, the process passes from step 450 to step470. In step 470, the process determines whether the lead is a B-lead.If yes, then the process passes from step 470 to step 700. In step 700,the B-lead is processed so as to assign the B-lead to an agent. Afterstep 700, the process passes to step 484 and processing is continued asdescribed above.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, there are onlyA-leads and B-leads. Accordingly, the process of FIG. 7 only handles theprocessing of such leads. However, it should also be appreciated thatother categories of leads or sub-categories of leads, for example, maybe processed in accordance with different embodiments of the invention.That is, it should be appreciated that FIG. 7 illustrates the processingof exemplary A-leads and B-leads. It is appreciated that leads havingdesignations different than those described above might also beprocessed utilizing similar steps to those described with reference toFIG. 7.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing processing of an A-lead step 500 of FIG.7 in further detail. As shown in FIG. 8, the process starts in step 500and passes to step 510. In step 510, the process determines a pool ofagents that may handle a particular lead. Then, the process passes tostep 550. In step 550, the process of FIG. 8 proceeds based on theprocessing performed in step 510. That is, in step 550, the processdetermines the particular agent in the pool that will handle the lead.In other words, step 510 determines a pool of candidate agents thatmight work the lead. In turn, the process of step 550 determines aparticular agent in that pool that will indeed work the lead. After step550, the process passes to step 590. In step 590, the process returns tostep 484 as shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 also shows that the processing of the A-leads might involveforwarding the A-lead or A-leads to a call center. That is, in step 502,the process deems that a particular lead has been tagged for processingby a call center and removes that lead from the further processing ofFIG. 8. The lead tagged for the call center is further processed todistribute the lead to a call center, as is described below.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing in further detail the “determine pool ofagents that may handle lead” step 510 of FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 9, theprocess starts in step 510 and passes to step 520. In step 520, theprocess makes a determination of whether the agent has room in his orher A-leads inventory. In accordance with one illustrative embodiment ofthe invention, the inventory number (IN) cannot be higher than 250 forexperienced agents. The number of leads in the A-leads inventory for anew agent might be limited to less than 75. However, it should of coursebe appreciated that these cap levels of FIG. 520, as well as otherthreshold levels described herein, may be varied as desired, and areprovided herein for illustrative purposes.

It may be determined in step 520, that a particular agent beingprocessed does indeed have room in that agent's A-leads inventory. As aresult, the process passes from step 520 to step 524. In step 524, adetermination is made whether the agent has a Lead Credit Balance (LCB)greater than zero. If yes, then the particular agent being processed isstill a candidate for working the particular lead, and the processpasses from step 524 to step 526. In step 526, a determination is madewhether the agent is “fully available.” This step might check whetherthe agent was terminated or is otherwise unavailable to work aparticular lead. If yes in step 526, then the process passes to step528. Step 528 reflects a feature of the invention that the agent isassociated with a “receive leads” flag. If this flag is checked, thenthe agent can indeed receive leads. Alternatively, if the flag is notchecked for some reason, then the agent cannot receive leads.

Accordingly, if the process is yes in step 528, then the process passesto step 530. In step 530, a determination is made whether the agent iseligible for the particular lead based on the skills that are requiredor desired, or a particular position that is required or desired. Forexample, the skills that might be considered in this assessment relatesto the territory's particular requirements and/or whether the agent iseligible to work a particular lead in view of the lead's endorsementstatus. That is, the process of FIG. 9 might further check that an agentis indeed qualified to work such an endorsed lead.

If yes in step 530, then the agent is still in the running for theparticular lead, and the process passes from step 530 to step 532. Instep 532, the process determines whether the agent has already received15 A-leads this week. Accordingly, step 532 reflects a further abilityby the system of the invention to monitor and control the distributionand working of leads. If no in step 532, then the process passes to step536.

In step 536, the process makes a determination, after the variousprocessing discussed above, whether there are indeed any agents stillleft in contention for the lead. That is, it might be that no agentsremain as possible candidates through the processing of steps 520-534.However, if there are indeed agents still in contention for the lead,i.e., yes in step 536, then the process passes to step 538. In step 538,the pool of agents is formed. Then, the process passes to step 540. Instep 540, the process returns to step 550 of FIG. 8.

It should be appreciated that the process may have determined in any ofsteps 520-532 that a particular agent did not satisfy the particularcriteria set forth by a process step. For example, in step 524, theprocess may have determined that the agent did not have an LCB ofgreater than zero. In step 526, the process may have determined that theagent was not fully available. Further, in step 528, the process mayhave determined that the agent “received leads” flag was not checked.The process may have also determined that the criteria of steps 530and/or 532 were not satisfied. As a result, the process passes from anyof steps 520-532 to step 522. In step 522, that particular agent isdisqualified from further consideration. However, of course, if oneagent is disqualified at any point in the process, the process willcontinue with the agents that are not yet disqualified.

As described above, it may be the situation in step 536, that there arenot any agents still in contention for the lead. As a result, theprocess passes from step 536 to step 542. In step 542, the Sales SupportLeader (SSL) gets the lead in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. That is, the auto-assign lead process is terminated for thatparticular lead. The sales support leader might take and work the leadhimself or herself, for example. Alternatively, the sales support leadermight override any of the criteria noted above and assign the lead to anagent that the sales support leader deems suitable. That is, the salessupport leader might assign the lead to an agent that the auto-assignprocess had previously disqualified. Note that the sales support leader,for example, might be assigned to all territories he or she oversees,i.e., such that she will be the default if all other agents aredisqualified,

In the process of FIG. 9, the end result in step 538 is the generationof a pool of agents, i.e., the generation of a pool of “candidateagents.” After step 538, the process passes to step 540. In step 540,the process returns to step 550, as shown in FIG. 8.

As noted above, in step 550 of FIG. 8, the process determines theparticular agent in a pool that will handle the lead. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing in further detail the “determine particular agent in poolthat will handle lead” step of FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 10, the processstarts in step 550 and passes to step 552. In step 552, the processdetermines whether there are any new agents still in contention for thelead. That is, the processing takes into account whether a particularcandidate agent is an experienced agent or a new agent. This thresholdbetween an experienced agent and a new agent may be determined asdesired. If yes in step 552, then the process passes to step 570.

To explain further, the process of FIG. 10 favors one category of agentover another category of agent, i.e., a new agent over an experiencedagent. However, it is appreciated that in a different embodiment of theinvention, they may be no distinction between new agents and old agentsand/or there may be a distinction based on a different grouping ofagents, as is desired.

Returning to FIG. 10, in step 570, the process determines whether thereis more than one (1) new agent in contention for the lead. It may bethat there is only one new agent left. If there is only one new agentleft, the process passes to step 572. In step 572, that new agent getsthe lead and the agent selection process in this example is complete.The process then passes to step 580. In step 580, the process returns tostep 590 as shown in FIG. 8. That is, the lead auto-assignment has beencompleted for that particular lead.

Alternatively, it may be the situation that there is indeed more thanone new agent in contention for the lead. As a result, the process mustdecide between these new candidate agents, which one should work thelead. That is, the process passes from step 572 to step 574. In step574, the process determines whether the new agents still in contentionhave exactly the same A-lead inventories. If they do not have the samenumber of A-lead inventories, then the process passes from step 574 tostep 576. In step 576, the new agent with the lowest current-week A-leadinventory gets the lead. After step 576, the process passes to step 580and processing is continued as described above.

Alternatively, the process may determine in step 574 that the new agentsdo indeed have exactly the same A-lead inventories, i.e., “yes” in step574. Then the process passes from step 574 to step 578. In step 578, thelead is randomly assigned amongst those new agents with the lowestcurrent week A-lead inventory. It should be appreciated that rather thanusing such random assignments in step 578, the leads might be assignedon a type of rotational basis. However, it is further noted that theA-lead inventory of step 574, absent other processing, will inherentlyresult in an equal distribution of the leads. That is, if two agentshave the same inventories and one agent is then assigned a lead, thenthe next time such agents will not have the same inventory. After step578, the process passes again to step 580.

It is appreciated that, in the situation of new agents, the choicebetween which new agent to choose might not be based on leadinventories, in accordance with a different embodiment of the invention.For example, the assignment of a lead might be based on a profile scoreassociated with the new agents.

With further reference to step 552 described above, it may be thesituation that there are not any “new” agents in contention for thelead. As a result, the process passes from step 552 to step 554. In step554, the process determines whether there is more than one experiencedagent in contention for the lead. If no, then the process passes fromstep 554 to step 560. That is, in step 560, that particular agent getsthe lead. After step 560, the process passes to step 580.

Alternatively, the process may determine in step 554 that there isindeed more than one experienced agent in contention for the lead. As aresult, the process passes from step 554 to step 556. In step 556, theprocess determines whether one of the experienced agents in contentionfor the lead has a higher APP (agent performance profile) score, thanthe rest of the agents. If yes, then the process passes to step 560 inwhich that agent gets the lead, i.e., the agent with the higher APPscore. Alternatively, if no in step 556, then the process passes to step562.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an agent performance profile “scoringmodel” in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. As shown inFIG. 15, the agent performance profile may use a variety of parametersthat are weighted. For each parameter, a scale may be used that resultsin a particular score, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. The agent performance profile as shown in FIG. 15 might useconversations of leads to sales; the particular career path, i.e.,position rank, of the agent; and/or the percentage of leads that areagent generated leads. For each parameter, the agent performance profileuses a particular rolling time period, particular weighting and aparticular scale. As a result, a plurality of scores are assigned basedon the parameters, which in total result in the agent performanceprofile score. However, it should of course be appreciated that theparameters as shown in FIG. 15 may be varied. For example, a differenttime period may be used other than the 13 week rolling period shown.Further, the scale may be varied as desired, for example. Further, otherparameters might be used, i.e., other than the conversation, career pathand agent generated lead parameters shown in FIG. 15.

In step 562 of the process, the lead is randomly assigned amongst thoseexperienced agents with the highest APP scores. After step 562, theprocess passes to step 580, and processing is continued as describedabove.

In accordance with a different embodiment of the invention, it isappreciated that steps 556 and 562 could effectively be eliminated bythe assumption that two agents would never have the same APP score. Thatis, the APP score might be calculated in a manner, and to sufficientdecimal places, such that the likelihood of two agents having the sameAPP score is very low. Based on this assumption, the process of FIG. 10would simply assign the lead to the agent with the highest score. In theunlikely event that two agents did have the same score, manualintervention might be imposed into the process.

The processing as described above determines the particular agent thatis assigned the lead, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. Once the lead is assigned, then the lead is forwarded to theparticular agent for actual processing, as described below.

However, it is appreciated that there may be various types of leads.FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing in further detail the processing of aB-lead, i.e., step 700 of FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 11, the processstarts in step 700. Then, the process passes to step 710. In step 710,the process determines a pool of agents that may handle the B-lead.Then, in step 750, the process determines the particular agent in thatpool that will indeed handle the B-lead. After step 750, the processpasses to step 782. In step 782, the process returns to step 484 asshown in FIG. 7.

In a similar manner to FIG. 8 above, FIG. 11 also shows that theprocessing of the B-leads might involve forwarding the B-lead or B-leadsto a call center. That is, in step 702, the process deems that aparticular lead has been tagged for processing by a call center andremoves that lead from the further processing of FIG. 11. The leadtagged for the call center is further processed to distribute the leadto a call center, as is described below.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing in further detail the “determine pool ofagents that may handle B-lead” step 710 of FIG. 11. As shown in FIG. 12,the sub-process starts in step 710 and passes to step 720. In step 720,the process determines whether the particular agent has room in his orher B-leads inventory. Again, this threshold might be set at any desirednumber. If no, then the process passes to step 722 in which the agent isdisqualified from further consideration. Alternatively, it may be thesituation that the particular agent being processed does not exceed theB-leads inventory required. As a result, the process passes from step720 to step 724.

In step 724, the process determines whether the agent has an Lead CreditBalance (LCB) of greater than zero. If no, i.e., the agent does not haveany credits available, then the process passes from step 724 to step722. Alternatively, the process may determine in step 724, that theagent does indeed have a LCB greater than zero. As a result, the processpasses from step 724 to step 726. In step 726, the process determineswhether the agent is fully available. If no, then the process againpasses to step 722. If yes in step 726, then the process passes to step728. In step 728, the process determines whether the agent's “receiveleads” flag is checked. If no, then the agent is disqualified fromfurther consideration. However, if yes in step 728, then the processpasses to step 730. In step 730, the process determines whether theagent is eligible for the particular lead based on skills and/orposition, expertise required by the particular territory and/or theendorsement situation of the lead. If no, then the agent is disqualifiedand the process passes to step 722. However, if yes in step 730, thenthe process passes to step 736.

In step 736, the process determines whether there are any agents stillin contention for the lead. That is, it may be the situation that allthe agents have been disqualified. If no in step 736, then the processpasses to step 742. In step 742, a suitable sales support leader forthat particular region, in which the lead is associated, gets the lead.Accordingly, the auto-assignment process is terminated for thatparticular lead.

Alternatively, there may be at least one agent still in contention forthe lead in step 736. As a result, the process passes to step 738. Instep 738, the pool of agents is formed. Then, in step 740, the processreturns to step 750 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing in further detail the determineparticular agent in pool that will handle the B-lead step 750 of FIG. 11in further detail. As shown in FIG. 13, the process starts in step 750and passes to step 752. In step 752, the process determines whetherthere are any new agents still in contention for the lead. If yes, thenthe process passes to step 770. That is, the processing of FIG. 13, in asimilar manner to the processing of FIG. 10 described above, givespreference to new agents over experienced agents. This preference may ofcourse be changed, as desired. In step 770, the process determineswhether there is more than one new agent in contention for the lead. Ifno, then that particular new agent gets the lead in step 772. After step772, the process passes to step 780. In step 780, the process returns tostep 790 of FIG. 11.

Alternatively, in step 770, as shown in FIG. 13, the process maydetermine that there is indeed more than one new agent in contention forthe lead. As a result, the process passes from step 770 to step 774. Instep 774, a determination is made by the lead processing portion 40whether all the new agents still in contention for the lead have exactlythe same B-lead inventories. If no, then the particular agent with thelowest current-week B-lead inventory gets the lead as shown in step 776.After step 776, the process passes again to step 780.

Alternatively, the process may determine in step 774, that all the newagents do indeed have exactly the same B-lead inventories. As a result,the process passes from step 774 to step 778. In step 778, the lead israndomly assigned amongst those new agents with the lowest current-weekB-lead inventory. After step 778, the process passes to step 780. Asdiscussed above, in step 780, the process returns to step 782 of FIG.11. Further processing is then continued as described above.

As described above in step 752 of FIG. 13, it may be the situation thatthere are not any new agents in contention for the lead. As a result,the process passes from step 752 to step 754. In step 754, adetermination is made whether there is more than one experienced agentin contention for the lead. If no, then that agent gets the lead in step760. Alternatively, it may be the situation in step 754 that there isindeed more than one experienced agent in contention for the lead. As aresult, the process passes to step 756. In step 756, the processdetermines whether one of the experienced agents in contention for thelead has a higher APP score than the rest. If yes, then again that agentgets the lead in step 760. Alternatively, if no in step 756, then theprocess passes to step 762.

In step 762, the lead is randomly assigned amongst those experiencedagents with the highest APP scores. After either of steps 760 or step762, the process passes to step 780. As noted above, in step 780, theprocess returns to step 782 as shown in FIG. 11.

The assignment of leads in step 400 of FIG. 5 is described above inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 14 shows theassignment of leads, and specifically A-leads, in accordance with afurther embodiment of the invention. However, it is appreciated that asimilar process may be used for B-leads.

As shown in FIG. 14, the process starts in step 600 and passes to step602. In step 602, the process determines if the agent has room in his orher A-Leads inventory (<250 for Experienced Agents, <75 for New Agents).If yes, then the process passes to step 606. Alternatively, if no instep 602, then the process passes to step 604, and the particular agentis disqualified from further consideration.

In step 606, the process determines if the agent has an LCB of >0. If noin step 606, then the process again passes to step 604 and the agent isdisqualified. Alternatively, if yes in step 606, then the process passesto step 608. In step 608, the process determines if the agent isterminated. If yes in step 608, then the process again passes to step604 and the agent is disqualified. Alternatively, if the agent has notbeen terminated, the process passes to step 612. In step 612, theprocess determines whether a regional sales manager or other person hastemporarily excluded the agent from receiving leads. If yes in step 612,then the process again passes to step 604 and the agent is disqualified.

Alternatively, if the process determines no in step 612, then in step614, the process determines if the agent is eligible for leads in thatterritory, i.e., based upon skills and/or position. If no, the processpasses to step 604. Alternatively, if yes in step 614, then the processpasses to step 616. In step 616, the process checks how many A-leads theagent has received in the current week. If the agent is equal to orabove the threshold, the process passes to step 604. If the agent isbelow the threshold, the process passes to step 618, i.e., the agent isstill a candidate for the lead.

In step 618, the process determines if any agents are still eligible forthe lead. If yes in step 618, then the process passes to step 622. Instep 622, the experienced agent with the highest profile score receivesthe lead. After step 622, the process may proceed to step 790 of FIG. 5,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Alternately, if noin step 618, then the process passes to step 620. In step 620, the leadremains in the regional inventory for some predetermined time. That is,at a future time any leads in the inventory will again be subject toassignment processing.

Hereinafter, further aspects in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention will be described with further reference to FIG. 5. As shownin FIG. 5, after the lead is assigned to an agent, the lead isdistributed in step 790, as described above. That is, the lead is outputfrom the lead processing portion 40 to the web based lead system 100.The lead may simply be viewed in the web based lead system 100 or may bestored in the lead system memory portion 110 in the web based leadsystem 100, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Once thelead is stored in the lead system memory portion 110, an agent mayaccess the lead so as to work the lead. For example, the leads datainput portion 104 might send an e-mail to an agent so as to alert anagent to check her new leads.

In further explanation, FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing the “agentaccesses lead information and works the lead” step 800 of the high levelflow chart of FIG. 5. That is, once the processing of FIG. 17 isinitiated, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the leadshave been received in the web based lead system 100 and processed so asto be accessible by the agent designated to work the lead. Accordingly,the processing of FIG. 17, as well as FIGS. 18-21 show features of theagent interacting with the web based lead system 100, i.e., utilizingthe web client 80.

As shown in FIG. 17, the process starts in step 800. Then, the processpasses to step 803. In step 803, the agent logs on to the web based leadsystem of FIG. 1, using a suitable password and identification number,or any other suitable authorization, for example. The agent might use aweb client 80, as shown in FIG. 1. After step 803, the process passes tostep 804. In step 804, the agent clicks on a suitable “leads” tab toaccess lead information in the web based lead system 100 of FIG. 1, orin some other way selects access to the lead information. Then, theprocess passes to step 806. In step 806, the agent's digital lead screenopens so as to provide the agent with a variety of options. That is,after step 806 as shown in FIG. 17, the process passes to step 808.

In step 808, the agent chooses a particular tab, i.e., makes aselection, as desired. For example, the agent may access leads in step820 and/or the agent may enter a new “agent generated” lead in step 830.Also, the agent may access activities in step 840. Alternatively, theagent may access his or her calendar in step 850, i.e., which might showappointments, for example. Further details of these process steps aredescribed below. After each of steps (820, 830, 840, 850), the processpasses to step 860.

In step 860, the agent works the lead. As is appreciated, the agentworking the lead might include reviewing various materials relating to alead, setting up appointments, and/or meeting with customers who areinterested in purchasing the item or service for sale. It is appreciatedthat the agent might work the lead, such as meeting with a potentialcustomer, and use the resources of the web based lead system 100, in anymanner or order desired.

After step 860, the process passes to step 870. In step 870, the processdetermines whether the agent requests further activity. For example,step 860 might be performed by the agent making desired selections on auser interface screen generated by the web based lead system 100. If yesin step 870, i.e., the agent does indeed request further activity. As aresult, the process returns to step 808 for further interaction with theagent. It is appreciated that FIG. 17 is illustrative and that an agentis free to access any of the tabs of FIG. 17 in any order, as desired.Alternatively, the agent may not request any further activity and wantto exit the web page. As a result, the process passes from step 870 tostep 880. In step 880, the process returns to step 900 as discussedabove with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing in further detail the “agent accessesleads” step 820 of FIG. 18. As shown in FIG. 18, the process starts instep 820 and passes to step 821. In step 821, the agent selects anaction from a menu, for example.

That is, the agent may wish to access all her A-leads in step 826.Alternatively, the agent may wish to access all her B-leads in step 827.Further, in step 828, the agent is presented with the option to access alist of all the new leads that have been assigned to the agent. Once theagent accesses a list of leads, the agent may then choose a particularlead on that list. That is, the process passes from any of steps (826,827, and 828) to step 822. Alternatively, a user might directly select aparticular lead, such as by specifically identifying the lead so as topull the lead information and/or to select the lead using a suitablesearch process. That is, the process may pass directly from step 821 tostep 822.

After step 822, the process passes to step 823. In step 823, the agentis provided with a variety of lead details so as to work the lead. Forexample, these lead details might include contacts for the lead, asource of sale (SOS) number, or other needed information that the agentneeds to work the lead. After step 823, the process may pass to step 824or return to step 821.

To explain, in step 824, the agent enters a disposition of a lead. Thatis, the agent works the lead in step 823. Once the agent works the lead,the agent may have concluded work on the lead, i.e., such that the leadshould be removed from the agent's inventory of leads to work. Inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention, this is performed byentering a disposition of the lead in step 824. Alternatively, the agentmay not be finished working the lead, and as a result, the agent mayreturn to step 821.

FIG. 16 is a table showing various disposition of leads in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention. The particular disposition that isassigned to a lead determines further processing of the lead. The leaddisposition might be to suppress the lead, that an additionalapplication has been submitted by a potential client relating to anexisting lead, to rework the lead, or to put the lead into a sleepdisposition. The lead processing might be suppressed, i.e., stopped,since the particular person is deceased, for example. Alternatively, thedisposition might be to “rework” the lead (assigning the lead to adifferent agent) since the lead has aged 90+ without being worked, forexample. Further aspects of the lead dispositioning process aredescribed below.

With further reference to FIG. 18, assuming the agent is done workingthe lead and the process had passed to step 824 in which the agententers the lead disposition, the process passes to step 825. In step825, the agent may choose from various forms related to working theleads, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. As shown instep 825, the agent may select an SOS form (Source of Sale) if the saleof a lead has occurred. Any of a wide variety of other menu options maybe made available to assist the agent in concluding work on a lead.

After step 825, the process passes to step 829. In step 829, the user isagain presented with the option to choose further menu options as theagent desires, e.g., to select a further lead. If the agent does notwish to select any further menu options, the process passes from step829 to step 829′. In step 829′, the process returns to step 860 of FIG.17.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing in further detail the agent accessesagent generated lead (AGL) step 830 of FIG. 17. As shown in FIG. 19, theprocess starts in step 830 and passes to step 832, in step 832, theagent clicks on a “New leads” tab so that the agent may enterinformation regarding a new lead that the agent has generated. Then, theprocess passes to step 834. In step 834, the agent enters andsubsequently submits the new lead information. Then, the process passesto step 836. In step 836, the process determines whether the agentrequests entry of any further lead information. If yes, then the processreturns to step 832.

Alternatively, if no in step 836, i.e., the agent does not request entryof further lead information, then the process passes to step 838. Instep 838, the process returns to step 860 as shown in FIG. 17.

As reflected in FIG. 19, it is appreciated that the agent generated newlead is subjected to a validation process in a similar manner to companygenerated new leads. This validation process might be performed on aperiodic basis such that an agent is aware of whether the new lead willbe counted as an agent generated lead. As described below, FIG. 26 is aflowchart showing a validation process in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing in further detail the agent accessesactivities step 840 of FIG. 17. As shown in FIG. 20, the process startsin step 840 and passes to step 842. In step 842, the agent clicks on the“activities” tab to access a list of activities. The displayedactivities may be any of a wide variety of activities or action stepsassociated with working a particular lead that might be needed and/or ofinterest to the agent working that lead. For example, the activitiesmight include an appointment relating to the lead or call-backinformation. Then, the process passes to step 843.

In step 843, the agent may enter an activity, i.e., such as a newappointment for a lead. The activity information may in particularrelate to deposition information of the lead. Then, in step 844, theprocess determines whether the agent requests access to furtheractivities information. If yes, then the process returns to step 842.Alternatively, if no in step 844, then the process passes to step 846.In step 846, the process returns to step 860 of FIG. 17.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart showing in further detail the agent accesses“calendar” step 850 of FIG. 17. As shown in step 21, the process startsin step 850 and passes to step 852. In step 852, the agent clicks on“calendar” tab to access calendar options. However, it should of coursebe appreciated that the calendar option might be activated in anysuitable manner. After step 852, the process passes to step 854. In step854, the agent selects a particular action desired. That is, the agentselects whether to access a daily calendar in step 855, whether theagent wishes to access a weekly calendar in step 856, or alternatively,whether the agent wishes to access a monthly calendar in step 856.

After each of steps (855, 856, 857) the process passes to step 858′. Instep 858′, the agent may view the details of a particular appointmentshown on the agent's calendar. These details might include appointmenttime and location, for example. Then, in step 858, a determination isperformed whether the agent requests access to further calendarinformation. If yes, then the process returns to step 854 in which theagent is provided with the option to make further selections. Thisprocessing may of course be effected using any of a variety of menuoptions or arrangements.

Alternatively, in step 858, the agent may not request access to furthercalendar information. As a result, the process passes from step 858 tostep 859. In step 859, the process returns to step 860 of FIG. 17.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing further aspects of an agent accessing theweb based lead system, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. Accordingly, FIG. 22 shows further details of the processingrelated to the flow charts of FIG. 17-21, as described above. As shownin FIG. 22, the process starts at step 1002 in which the agent logs ontothe web based lead system. Then, in step 1004, the agent selects the“digital leads” link. This in turn results in the display of a page tothe agent in step 1006. The page allows the agent to select a desiredactivity. That is, the agent is provided with the opportunity to go to avariety of pages. For example, the agent may go to a leads page 1020, anAG leads page 1030, an activity page 1040, and/or a calendar page 1050.

Further, a variety of views are accessible from each page. That is, ifthe agent accesses the leads page 1020, then the agent is provided withaccess to a “lead list” 1022, a “lead detail view” 1024, oralternatively, an SOS view 1026. For example, the lead list view 1022might provide the agent with a list of leads that have been workedbefore separately from a list of leads that have not been worked before.

Further, a “disposition information” view 1027 and an “agent noteinformation” view may be provided. The disposition view 1027 providesthe agent with information regarding the disposition of the leads. Theagent note information view 1028 allows the agent to enter and thenreview various notes regarding a lead or leads. In accordance with oneembodiment of the invention, the SOS view 1026, the dispositioninformation” view 1027 and the “agent note information” view 1028, aswell as the views 1022 and 1024, are presented on a single viewablescreen 1021, for viewing by the agent at one time.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the agent notesmight include two types of notes. One type of notes might be privatenotes that no other agent can see. A further type of notes might beshared notes, i.e., that other agents and persons can indeed see.Further, the source of sale information relates to the splitting ofcommissions with other agents or persons involved in processing thelead. For example, the commission might be split between a personresponsible for the marketing effort that resulted in the lead, a personwho secured an endorsement, and/or some other agent or person whocontributed in securing and processing the lead.

Alternatively to the above views, the agent may access the AG lead page1030. As a result, this provides the agent access to a new leads “entry”view 1032, i.e., in which the agent may enter information regarding anew lead. Further, the agent may access the activities page 1040. Thispage provides the agent access to view an activity list 1042. Theactivity list view 1042 includes various information regarding theagent's activities. Lastly, the agents may access the calendar page1050. The calendar page 1050 allows the agent to access a variety ofcalendar views, such as the daily view 1052, a weekly view 1054, and/orthe monthly view 1056, for example.

Accordingly, the systems and methods of the invention allow an agent toeffectively monitor and process their own generated leads in conjunctionwith processing company generated leads using the same system. Thisresults in efficiency since the agent is not then using some othersystem or arrangement to process their own generated leads.

Hereinafter, further aspects of the invention relating to the high levelflowchart of FIG. 5 will be described, and in particular, aspectsrelating to validating a lead. As described above, it should beappreciated that a variety of steps may be performed on a lead to verifythat the lead is indeed a valid lead. In particular, this validation mayoccur in the situation where an agent herself has submitted the new leadfor processing.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a new leadvalidation process takes new leads and performs various processing onthe new leads. For example, it may be the situation that a new lead wasentered by a sales agent. The validation process compares the leadinformation against an established marketing responder database. If theprocess determines that there are “matches” to the new lead, then thenew lead is not immediately loaded into the new lead database. Instead,the new lead might be suitably coded as a “duplicate” lead. For anyduplicate leads, the particular lead might be subject to agent and/orsales management review. Such persons might compare the “agentgenerated” lead with the previous lead, which appears to be a duplicate,to determine the submitting agent's entitlement to the lead as an “agentgenerated” lead. For example, an agent generated lead might be createdwhen a client refers the agent to a relative of the client, i.e., thusgenerating a sales lead. An agent generated lead may typically result ina higher commission rate to the particular agent for that lead. As usedherein, a “sales management person” is a person that has some oversightauthority in the handling of leads by the agents and the securement ofsales based on those leads, for example.

On the other hand, it may be the situation that for a given lead, whichwas submitted by an agent, there are no “matches.” In accordance withone embodiment of the invention, these leads are automatically loadedwith suitable coding designating the lead as an “agent generated” lead,i.e., resulting in a higher commission rate for the agent.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing further details of step 250 “perform newlead validation process” of FIG. 5. The processing of step 250 may beperformed by the new lead validation portion 49 (as shown in FIG. 2), inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. The lead validationprocessing may be performed in parallel with an agent working the lead,i.e., if the agent generated the lead, that agent can proceed withworking the lead while the processing of FIG. 26 is performed.

As shown in FIG. 26, the process starts in step 250. Then, the processpasses to step 254. In step 254, the process performs a comparison ofthe new lead against existing leads. This comparison may be performed ina variety of manners, such as comparing corresponding data fields in therespective leads or using a suitable lead identification number,discussed further below.

After step 254, the process passes to step 256. In step 256, the processdetermines whether the new lead matches with any existing leads. If no,then the process passes to step 270. In step 270, the process proceedswith processing the new lead using the automated lead processingportion, as described in detail above. That is, in step 272, the processreturns to step 300 of FIG. 5.

In accordance with a related aspect of the invention, each lead may beprovided with a unique “lead identifier number.” The lead identifiernumber might be based on the client's last name and address, forexample. Any known technique may be used to generate the lead identifiernumber, for use as described herein. The lead identifier number may beused to compare a new lead against existing leads so as to determine ifthe new lead is duplicative.

As described above, in step 256, the process determines whether the newlead matches with an existing lead. This comparison might be performedusing a lead identifier number. It may be the situation that the newlead does indeed match with an existing lead. As a result, the processpasses from step 256 to step 260. In step 260, the lead is tagged as aduplicate lead and the new lead is retained in the lead processingportion pending a review of the lead. The process then passes to step262, as shown in FIG. 26.

In step 262, a sales management person and/or an agent person reviewsthe attributes of the new lead. Then, in step 266, a determination maybe made whether the new lead should be made available to the agent asagent generated business, i.e., if the lead was indeed submitted as anagent generated lead. If the process, which typically involves humaninput, determines that the lead should not be made available to theagent as an AG lead, the process passes to step 267. In step 267, theagent is made aware of the adverse decision and deletes the “agentgenerated lead” prospect, i.e., the agent knows that they will not getthe higher commission rate. In accordance with one embodiment of theinvention, the processing of that particular lead ends in step 267.

A variety of factors may be considered in determining whether an agentshould receive a higher commission, even though a particular new lead isa duplicate. For example, the history of the earlier lead may be viewedby appropriate persons to see if the same agent worked on the lead,i.e., as is now submitting the duplicate lead as new business. If theagent had not worked on the lead, then the duplicate lead mightnever-the-less be deemed to be agent generated business. Alternatively,if the agent had worked on the lead before, then the duplicate leadwould not be deemed to be agent generated business.

Alternatively, in step 266 of FIG. 26, the process may determine thateven though the lead is technically a duplicate, it is still appropriateto designate the lead as agent generated business. Accordingly, if yesin step 266, the process passes from step 266 to step 268. In step 268,the lead is flagged to be coded as an agent generated lead. The agent'scommission will be affected accordingly. After step 268, the processpasses to step 270, and proceeds as described above.

The method of the invention as shown in FIG. 26 and described above canbe used to efficiently and consistently ensure “agent generated” leadsare properly evaluated by sales management and that a resultingcommission or commissions, which are paid to a requestor agent, isaccurate. As described above, the agent generated lead is taggedaccordingly as an “agent generated lead.”

It is appreciated that information regarding agent generated leads maybe extensively used for a wide variety of purposes. For example, ascross-sell opportunities between sales channels are identified,accurately tracking and validating the original source of a lead isuseful in meeting privacy requirements as well as ensuring accurateagent commissions and endorsement partner dues.

It should further be appreciated that the validation process asdescribed herein is not limited to be used in conjunction with theparticular processing of FIGS. 1-22. Rather, the validation processingmay be also used in other relevant sales channels in which it is desiredto evaluate factors to ensure accurate commissions to agents as well asaccurate payments to endorsement partners.

Hereinafter, further aspects of the systems and methods of the inventionwill be described relating to working of the leads. As described above,an agent is assigned a lead and that lead is then distributed and madeaccessible to the agent. Over time, the agent may work the lead toresult in various dispositions of the lead. Optimally, the finaldisposition of the lead will result in a sale. However, on the otherhand, it is also typical for the lead not to result in a sale. A widevariety of circumstances can effect the working of the lead, so as toinfluence the “disposition” of the lead after the lead has been workedfor a period of time. For example, relevant persons may becomeunavailable for a period of time and/or funding may become unavailableso as to result in the non-conversion of a lead to a sale. However, itmay well be the case that an adverse situation causing thenon-conversion of a lead may cure itself over time. Accordingly,efficiency dictates that the lead be shelved for working at a laterdate.

Further, the length of time that a lead “sleeps” may be determined basedon a variety of factors. For example, in a particular region it might bedetermined by experience or statistical analysis that 60 days is anoptimal time to shelve a B-lead. However, this optimal time might beadjusted based on further parameters. For example, the supply of A-leadsin a region might be short so as to decrease the workload on agents tobelow desired levels. As a result, the B-leads might be taken up sooner.

In accordance with one embodiment, the invention provides automated leadmanagement to handle variously disposed leads that have already beenworked by an agent. The automated lead management uses “dispositionrules,” in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. To explainfurther, the process automates the handling of sales leads based on thelast “disposition,” i.e., outcome, of the lead. This disposition of thelead might be provided by an agent or decided by management, forexample.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a “disposition code”segments the “worked” leads into groups of leads, i.e., segments ofleads. Each segment is then automatically handled or queued in anappropriate way commensurate with its now designated value. A suitable“rule table,” i.e., a look-up table of sorts, might be used by the leadprocessing portion 40, for example, to provide the association betweenthe disposition of a lead and the manner in which that lead should beprocessed. The process may use the dispositions as shown in FIG. 16 anddiscussed above.

Further, the systems and methods of the invention may provide“auto-disposition.” That is, it may be the situation that a lead in anagent's inventory is not reworked in a timely fashion. As a result, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention, an “auto-disposition”process is performed. The auto-disposition process designates a “pseudo”outcome automatically removing the sales lead from the assignee'sinventory. As a result, the lead is immediately available for rework bysome other agent to which the now B-lead is assigned.

To explain further, once a lead is assigned to an agent, it may be theexpectation that the lead should be worked, and the agent able to submita final disposition of the lead, in 30 days. However, if an agent hashad a lead 90 days, for example, without working the lead, the lead maybe subject to an auto-disposition process. That is, the lead may beremoved from the agents inventory and forwarded to another agent'sinventory as a B-lead using the lead system as described herein. Theauto-disposition process designates a “pseudo” outcome because the realoutcome of the led is not known. The auto-disposition process might alsobe implemented when an agent is terminated, for example.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, the methodprovides “auto-aging” of leads, i.e., a “sleep” stage. That is, whenappropriate, some dispositions will automatically trigger a lead toenter a “sleep” stage. This auto-aging of the lead will ensure that alead is only reworked after a designated amount of time. This designatedtime is typically a later date that will more likely result inconversion of that lead to a sales.

In accordance with one aspect of dispositioning, an agent may associatea disposition to the sales lead indicating that the sales lead is to bereworked. This might occur in a situation that the agent is going onvacation and wishes to release her leads for other agents to work, i.e.,in a situation where the first agent has not yet worked the lead.Accordingly, the agent assigns a dispositioning code to the leadindicating that the lead should be immediately reworked. As a result,further processing is controlled so that the sales lead is forwarded toa second agent for working the sales lead without suppressing the saleslead, i.e., the lead is essentially forwarded immediately to be assignedto a further agent.

In further explanation of these features of some embodiments of theinvention, FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing in further detail the “processworked leads based on disposition” step 900 of FIG. 5.

As shown in FIG. 27, the process starts in step 900. That is, asdescribed above, an agent or a manager, for example, has entered adisposition code. The process of FIG. 27 processes the lead based onthat disposition code. After step 900, the process passes to step 910.In step 910, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, theprocess updates the lead information to show the agent who last workedthe lead. Then, in step 920, the process determines whether the lead isor is not a reworkable lead. If no, then the process passes directly tostep 940. In step 940, the lead is kept in a suitable database forcomparison purposes later. For example, a lead that is clearly notre-workable is a lead that has resulted in a sale.

If the lead is a re-workable type lead, the process passes from step 920to step 930. In step 930, the process determines the disposition of thelead based on the disposition code associated with the lead. Based onthe disposition code, the process proceeds with applying a set of rulesto the particular lead, i.e., to control further processing of the lead.

For example, based on the disposition code, the process may pass to step932. In step 932, the sales status is updated and the lead issuppressed. FIG. 16 discussed above describes various situations inwhich the lead might be suppressed. After step 932, the process alsopasses to step 940. In step 940, work on the lead is terminated.

Alternatively, the disposition code may dictate that the process passesto step 934. In step 934, the process determines that a new applicationhas been submitted for an existing lead. As a result, the process passesto step 950. In step 950, the process forwards the lead for assignment.Further, the process updates the lead fields to reflect the status andretains the lead in a suitable database for comparison purposes, i.e.,for comparing with other leads.

Alternatively, the process may pass to step 936. In step 936, theprocess places the particular lead into a sleep state. As a result, theparticular lead will be resurrected after some predetermined period oftime. After step 936, the process passes to step 950, and the lead isforwarded for assignment, as described above.

Alternatively, the process may pass to step 938. In step 938, thedisposition code associated with the lead dictates that the lead shouldbe immediately reworked. As a result, the particular lead will beforwarded immediately for reworking. Accordingly, after step 938, theprocess passes to step 950, and the lead is forwarded for assignment, asdescribed above.

After either of steps 940 or 950, the process passes to step 960. Instep 960, the process returns to step 980 of FIG. 5. FIG. 27 isillustrative of processing in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. However, the disposition code that is associated with aparticular lead might be used to dictate any of a variety of furtherprocessing for the particular lead.

In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, the method of theinvention ensures optimal rework of lead inventories. Through“dispositions” of the leads submitted by an agent and/or management,sales leads can be either reworked immediately, “auto-aged” for adefined period of time, or suppressed from being reworked, for example.This automated lead management process drives consistency in leadhandling that is difficult to achieve with a time-consuming manualprocess. This also ensures optimal use of an agent's time as only thoseleads that are optimal for possible conversion will be available forrework. Automated lead management, using the disposition rules, can alsodrive adherence to customer-provided suppression requests and relatedcompany policies, for example. Further, the dispositioning processingmay be done in a batch manner.

The disposition process described herein can be used in the processingof all leads, ensuring the efficient rework of lead inventories. As abusiness model diversifies into other sales channels, this can be usedmore extensively. As multi-product and multi-channel opportunities areidentified, accurate handling and rework of lead inventories isimportant in meeting customer needs as well as optimizing companyperformance. This disposition process can be shared across relevantsales channels where inventory handling is important to sales forceefficiency and customer satisfaction.

Now turning to further aspects of the invention, as described above withreference to FIG. 8 and FIG. 11, a lead or a set of leads may beforwarded to a call center for processing, instead of being processed byan agent. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, FIG. 28 isa flowchart showing a call center process. The process of FIG. 28 may beperformed on a weekly basis or at some other predetermined timeinterval.

The process of FIG. 28 starts in step 1100 and passes to step 1110. Instep 1110, a call center team, i.e., the team that is responsible formaintenance of the call center processing, updates the call centerattributes in the lead processing portion. For example, the call centerattributes might dictate a status that is accorded to a particular callcenter, as described below. In the case of a new call center, the callcenter team would add the new call center along with the attributesassociated with the new call center, in accordance with one embodimentof the invention. After step 1110, the process passes to step 1120.

In step 1120, the call center team may illustratively set flags asdesired, including setting to positive the “receive A-leads flag” andthe receive “B-leads flag”. Further, the call center team selects a capvalue or values, for A-leads and B-leads, from a list of options for capvalues. As described below, the particular selected cap value dictatesthe particular set of rules that are used to process leads in the callcenter.

Then, in step 1130, the appropriate sales management person is providedan opportunity to update the “receive A-leads flag” and the “receiveB-leads flag.” For example, the sales manager might choose to deactivatethe A-lead flag if the sales management person for some reason does notwant the particular call center to receive A-leads.

Then, the process passes to step 1140. In step 11140, the wave number onleads is updated, as desired, depending on the age of the lead, leadtype and endorsement flag, for example. This updating may be performedin a group fashion such as by searching all endorsed leads that are 10days old, and assigning a particular wave number to each of such leads.Then, in step 1150, the process excludes leads that have been assignedin the last 7 days, for example. That is, the process of Fig. A allows alead a predetermined time for the lead to be released for working (aftera prior assignment). That is, in this case 7 days is provided before thelead will again be available for reassignment. Accordingly, if a salesmanager does not release a lead for working (after the lead has beenassigned), the lead will be reassigned by the process of FIG. 28 after 7days.

After step 1150, the process passes to step 1160. In step 1160, theprocess performs a database procedure to disqualify or qualify theparticular call center from leads distribution by assignment manager.Further details of step 1160 are shown in FIG. 29.

After step 1160 of FIG. 28, the process passes to step 1170. In step1170, the process deactivates all B-lead assignment rules and activatesall A-lead assignment rules. Then, in step 1175, the process runs theassignment manager for all the A-leads. Specifically, the processassigns the A-leads in sequential waves A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5, forexample.

Then, in step 1180, the process deactivates all A-lead assignment rulesand activates all B-lead assignment rules. Then, in step 1185, theprocess runs the assignment manager for the B-leads in sequential wavesB1, B2, B3, B4, and B5, for example. After step 1185, the process passesto step 1190. In step 1190, the weekly process ends. Aspects of waves,which may be applied in the processing of FIG. 28, are described abovewith reference to FIG. 7.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing further details of the “perform databaseprocedure to disqualify/qualify call center from leads distribution bythe assignment manager.” The subprocess starts in step 1160 and passesto step 1162. In step 1162, the process determines whether the: “callcenter cap >0”, i.e., can the call center receive leads. That is, theprocess determines whether the particular call center is designated toreceive leads. If No, then the process passes to step 1163 and then onto step 1166.

Alternatively, the process in step 1162 may have determined that theparticular call center cap is indeed greater than zero, i.e., the callcenter is qualified to receive leads. Accordingly, the process passes tostep 1164.

In step 1164, the process matches processing of leads in the call centerto a set of appropriate call center rules. To explain, the set of rulesthat are used is based on the particular cap value that is selected bythe sales management person, for example. That is, once the user selectsthe desired cap value, the other rules, which are used in the processingof the leads are automatic, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. Accordingly, the simple selection of a cap value for aparticular call center dictates a variety of parameters that are used inprocessing leads in that call center. For example, the selection of thecap value will of course dictate the cap value for the call center, aswell as the assignment of leads in waves, the rate at which leads areassigned, or any other parameter, as desired. After step 1164, theprocess passes to step 1166. In step 1166, the subprocess ends, i.e.,the process returns to step 1170 of FIG. 28.

Accordingly, the processing of FIG. 28 and FIG. 29 allow leads to beforwarded and processed by call centers in an efficient manner. Therules that are associated with a particular cap value may be varied asdesired. For example, with higher cap values, the rules will typicallybe varied to reflect the increased volume that the particular callcenter (with the higher cap value) will experience.

Hereinafter, further aspects relating to the processing of leads will bedescribed and in particular relating to the general implementation ofthe above systems and methods of the invention.

It is appreciated that a variety of off-the-shelf software might be usedto implement various pieces of the above described systems and methodsin the embodiments of the invention. For example, various communicationsoftware might be utilized. Further, as should be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art, various customer relationship managementsoftware may be used to implement different pieces of the aboveembodiments as underlying technology. For example SIEBLE's customerrelationship management software might be used as underlying technology.

As described above, FIGS. 1-4 show one embodiment of the system of theinvention. Further, various processes are described in detail. Thesystem of the invention or portions of the system of the invention maybe in the form of a “processing machine,” such as a general purposecomputer, for example. As used herein, the term “processing machine” isto be understood to include at least one processor that uses at leastone memory. The at least one memory stores a set of instructions. Theinstructions may be either permanently or temporarily stored in thememory or memories of the processing machine. The processor executes theinstructions that are stored in the memory or memories in order toprocess data. The set of instructions may include various instructionsthat perform a particular task or tasks, such as those tasks describedabove in the flowcharts. Such a set of instructions for performing aparticular task may be characterized as a program, software program, orsimply software.

As noted above, the processing machine executes the instructions thatare stored in the memory or memories to process data. This processing ofdata may be in response to commands by a user or users of the processingmachine, in response to previous processing, in response to a request byanother processing machine and/or any other input, for example.

As noted above, the processing machine used to implement the inventionmay be a general purpose computer. However, the processing machinedescribed above may also utilize any of a wide variety of othertechnologies including a special purpose computer, a computer systemincluding a microcomputer, mini-computer or mainframe for example, aprogrammed microprocessor, a micro-controller, a peripheral integratedcircuit element, a CSIC (Customer Specific Integrated Circuit) or ASIC(Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or other integrated circuit, alogic circuit, a digital signal processor, a programmable logic devicesuch as a FPGA, PLD, PLA or PAL, or any other device or arrangement ofdevices that is capable of implementing the steps of the process of theinvention.

It is appreciated that in order to practice the method of the inventionas described above, it is not necessary that the processors and/or thememories of the processing machine be physically located in the samegeographical place. That is, each of the processors and the memoriesused in the invention may be located in geographically distinctlocations and connected so as to communicate in any suitable manner.Additionally, it is appreciated that each of the processor and/or thememory may be composed of different physical pieces of equipment.Accordingly, it is not necessary that the processor be one single pieceof equipment in one location and that the memory be another single pieceof equipment in another location. That is, it is contemplated that theprocessor may be two pieces of equipment in two different physicallocations. The two distinct pieces of equipment may be connected in anysuitable manner. Additionally, the memory may include two or moreportions of memory in two or more physical locations.

To explain further, processing as described above is performed byvarious components and various memories. However, it is appreciated thatthe processing performed by two distinct components as described abovemay, in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, beperformed by a single component. Further, the processing performed byone distinct component as described above may be performed by twodistinct components. In a similar manner, the memory storage performedby two distinct memory portions as described above may, in accordancewith a further embodiment of the invention, be performed by a singlememory portion. Further, the memory storage performed by one distinctmemory portion as described above may be performed by two memoryportions.

Further, various technologies may be used to provide communicationbetween the various processors and/or memories, as well as to allow theprocessors and/or the memories of the invention to communicate with anyother entity; i.e., so as to obtain further instructions or to accessand use remote memory stores, for example. Such technologies used toprovide such communication might include a network, the Internet,Intranet, Extranet, LAN, an Ethernet, or any client server system thatprovides communication, for example. Such communications technologiesmay use any suitable protocol such as TCP/IP, UDP, or OSI, for example.

As described above, a set of instructions is used in the processing ofthe invention. The set of instructions may be in the form of a programor software. The software may be in the form of system software orapplication software, for example. The software might also be in theform of a collection of separate programs, a program module within alarger program, or a portion of a program module, for example Thesoftware used might also include modular programming in the form ofobject oriented programming. The software tells the processing machinewhat to do with the data being processed.

Further, it is appreciated that the instructions or set of instructionsused in the implementation and operation of the invention may be in asuitable form such that the processing machine may read theinstructions. For example, the instructions that form a program may bein the form of a suitable programming language, which is converted tomachine language or object code to allow the processor or processors toread the instructions. That is, written lines of programming code orsource code, in a particular programming language, are converted tomachine language using a compiler, assembler or interpreter. The machinelanguage is binary coded machine instructions that are specific to aparticular type of processing machine, i.e., to a particular type ofcomputer, for example. The computer understands the machine language.

Any suitable programming language may be used in accordance with thevarious embodiments of the invention. Illustratively, the programminglanguage used may include assembly language, Ada, APL, Basic, C, C++,COBOL, dBase, Forth, Fortran, Java, Modula-2, Pascal, Prolog, REXX,Visual Basic, and/or JavaScript, for example. Further, it is notnecessary that a single type of instructions or single programminglanguage be utilized in conjunction with the operation of the system andmethod of the invention. Rather, any number of different programminglanguages may be utilized as is necessary or desirable.

Also, the instructions and/or data used in the practice of the inventionmay utilize any compression or encryption technique or algorithm, as maybe desired. An encryption module might be used to encrypt data. Further,files or other data may be decrypted using a suitable decryption module,for example.

As described above, the invention may illustratively be embodied in theform of a processing machine, including a computer or computer system,for example, that includes at least one memory. It is to be appreciatedthat the set of instructions, i.e., the software for example, thatenables the computer operating system to perform the operationsdescribed above may be contained on any of a wide variety of media ormedium, as desired. Further, the data that is processed by the set ofinstructions might also be contained on any of a wide variety of mediaor medium. That is, the particular medium, i.e., the memory in theprocessing machine, utilized to hold the set of instructions and/or thedata used in the invention may take on any of a variety of physicalforms or transmissions, for example. Illustratively, the medium may bein the form of paper, paper transparencies, a compact disk, a DVD, anintegrated circuit, a hard disk, a floppy disk, an optical disk, amagnetic tape, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM, a EPROM, a wire, a cable, a fiber,communications channel, a satellite transmissions or other remotetransmission, as well as any other medium or source of data that may beread by the processors of the invention.

Further, the memory or memories used in the processing machine thatimplements the invention may be in any of a wide variety of forms toallow the memory to hold instructions, data, or other information, as isdesired. Thus, the memory might be in the form of a database to holddata. The database might use any desired arrangement of files such as aflat file arrangement or a relational database arrangement, for example.

In the system and method of the invention, a variety of “userinterfaces” may be utilized to allow a user to interface with theprocessing machine or machines that are used to implement the invention.As used herein, a user interface includes any hardware, software, orcombination of hardware and software used by the processing machine thatallows a user to interact with the processing machine. A user interfacemay be in the form of a dialogue screen for example. A user interfacemay also include any of a mouse, touch screen, keyboard, voice reader,voice recognizer, dialogue screen, menu box, list, checkbox, toggleswitch, a pushbutton or any other device that allows a user to receiveinformation regarding the operation of the processing machine as itprocesses a set of instructions and/or provide the processing machinewith information. Accordingly, the user interface is any device thatprovides communication between a user and a processing machine. Theinformation provided by the user to the processing machine through theuser interface may be in the form of a command, a selection of data, orsome other input, for example.

As discussed above, a user interface is utilized by the processingmachine that performs a set of instructions such that the processingmachine processes data for a user. The user interface is typically usedby the processing machine for interacting with a user either to conveyinformation or receive information from the user. However, it should beappreciated that in accordance with some embodiments of the system andmethod of the invention, it is not necessary that a human user actuallyinteract with a user interface used by the processing machine of theinvention. Rather, it is contemplated that the user interface of theinvention might interact, i.e., convey and receive information, withanother processing machine, rather than a human user. Accordingly, theother processing machine might be characterized as a user. Further, itis contemplated that a user interface utilized in the system and methodof the invention may interact partially with another processing machineor processing machines, while also interacting partially with a humanuser.

Hereinafter, various embodiments and aspects of the invention will bedescribed in summary. In accordance with one embodiment, the inventionprovides a method, and system for performing the method, for processingleads, including obtaining a lead, the lead including lead information;classifying the lead based on the lead information; generating a pool ofcandidate agents, which are selected from a collection of possibleagents, that are eligible to work the lead based on the classifying ofthe lead; selecting a selected agent from the pool of candidate agents,the selected agent designated to work on the lead; and outputting leadinformation so as to be accessible to the agent over a networkenvironment, such as the Internet, to a lead distribution portion. Themethod may further include the step of obtaining agent informationregarding each agent; and generating a pool of agents, which areselected from a collection of possible agents, that are eligible to workthe lead also includes considering the agent information regarding eachagent. The method may further include processing the agent information,for each agent, to determine an agent score for each agent, the agentscore being included in the considering the agent information regardingeach agent. The classifying the lead based on the lead information mayinclude determining if the lead is auto-assignable; and generating apool of candidate agents and selecting a selected agent from the pool ofcandidate agents are only performed for leads that are designated asauto-assignable. The method may include classifying the lead based onthe lead information including determining if the lead is an A-lead or aB-lead. The classifying the lead based on the lead information mayinclude determining if the lead is an endorsed lead or a non-endorsedlead. Generating the pool of candidate agents may include determiningthe number of leads that each agent has in their inventory. The methodmay include, wherein the lead information includes a territory that thelead is associated with, generating the pool of candidate agentsincluding determining whether each agent is available in the particularterritory of the lead. The method may further include determiningwhether telemarketing possesses a priority over the lead; anddetermining that telemarketing does not possesses a priority over thelead so as subsequently perform the selecting a selected agent from thepool of candidate agents. The step of selecting a selected agent fromthe pool of candidate agents may include determining whether each agentis a new agent or an experienced agent. The method may further includethe step of randomly assigning the lead between a number of competingagents in the pool of agents. The lead distribution office may be in theform of a web based lead system.

In accordance with a further embodiment, the invention includes amethod, and system for performing the method, for distributing leads toan agent in a network environment, the method comprising outputtinginformation regarding a new lead from a lead processing portion to alead distribution portion over the network environment; accessing thelead distribution portion, by an agent, to obtain information regardingthe new lead; and outputting the information regarding a new lead fromthe lead distribution portion to the agent. The method may furtherinclude the lead distribution portion requesting the agent to enterverification information regarding the agent prior to the leaddistribution portion outputting the information regarding a new lead tothe agent; and wherein the verification information includes a password.The lead distribution portion may further include outputting informationregarding a collection of leads of the agent, in addition to the leaddistribution portion outputting information regarding a new lead. Themethod may further include the lead distribution portion outputtinginformation regarding activities of the agent, in addition to the leaddistribution portion outputting information regarding the new lead. Themethod may include the lead distribution portion outputting informationregarding the calendar of the agent, in addition to the leaddistribution portion outputting information regarding the new lead,wherein the outputting of information regarding the calendar of theagent includes outputting at least one of a daily, weekly and monthlyschedule of the agent. The method may further include tracking the newlead as the lead is worked on by the selected agent so as to generateworked-on lead information, the worked on lead information being inputby the agent into the lead distribution portion, the lead distributionportion then outputting the worked-on lead information to the leadprocessing portion. The worked-on lead information may includeconfirmation of a sale as a result of the lead. The method may furtherinclude determining an agent lead credit balance, for each agent, basedon the worked-on lead information obtained from a plurality of leads;and outputting the agent lead credit balance, for each agent, from thelead distribution portion to the leads processing portion. The inventionmay be practiced in a network environment, such as using the Internet.The lead distribution portion may be a web based lead system.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the automated leadmanagement system may use disposition rules. This process automates thehandling of sales leads based on the last “disposition” (or outcome) asprovided by an agent or decided by management. The disposition codesegments the “worked” leads. Each segment is then automaticallyhandled/queued in an appropriate way commensurate with its nowdesignated value. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, arule table may be used.

In accordance with some embodiments, the invention also provides forauto-disposition of sales leads. That is, when lead inventory is notmade available for reworking in a timely fashion, “auto-disposition”will designate a “pseudo” outcome automatically removing the sales leadfrom the assignee's inventory, making the lead immediately available forrework by another agent, for example. That is, for example, an agent maybe expected to work a lead in 30 days. If such a lead remains in theagent's inventory for 60 days, and has not been worked by the agent,then that lead may be subjected to auto-disposition. The lead will beplaced back into the auto-assignment and distribution method of theinvention.

In accordance with some embodiments, the invention also provides for“Auto-Aging” of leads, i.e., for leads to sleep. That is, whenappropriate, some dispositions of a lead (when subjected to theauto-disposition process) will automatically trigger a lead into a“sleep” stage. This auto-aging of the lead will ensure that a lead isonly reworked after a designated amount of time has passed. That is, thelead will then be worked at a later date that will more likely result inconversion of that lead.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the systems andmethods of the invention may perform a “new lead validation process.”The new lead validation process relates in particular to “agentgenerated business,” i.e., leads that are generated by an agent. The newlead validation process takes new leads as entered by a sales agent, forexample, and compares the information of the new lead against anestablished marketing responder database, or another lead database, thatstores existing lead information.

Any “matches” are not immediately loaded to the established marketingresponder database, or other lead database, but instead coded as a“duplicate” lead. Then, agent management and sales management, forexample, review and compare the duplicate “agent generated” lead withthe established responder, and may perform other analysis, to determinethe agent's entitlement to the lead as an “agent generated” lead. The“agent generated” lead may typically result in a higher commission ratefor the agent. Any non-matches, i.e., leads that are decided to indeedconstitute agent generated business, are automatically loaded withcoding designating the lead as an “agent generated” lead, and thusresulting in a higher commission rate for the agent upon sale of thatlead.

The systems and methods of the invention, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention, provide for the automated assignment ofsales leads. Sales leads are automatically “matched” to sales agents tooptimize conversion of the opportunity presented by the agent and, as aresult, maximizing sales premium to the business. The “automatedassignment of sales leads” business processes leverages a variety ofunique factors when matching a lead to an agent.

One factor that may be used when performing the automated assignment ofsales leads may be characterized as using lead exclusion flow forauto-assignment, i.e., the process ensures that only leads with optimalopportunity to convert are assigned as part of the “automatedassignment” process. Various attributes of a lead may be used in thisdetermination such as whether the lead has been transferred betweenregions and whether the lead's resurrection date has been reached, i.e.,the date at which a previously retrieved lead is retrieved to be workedagain. Waves may be used, as described above.

Another factor that may be used when performing the automated assignmentof sales leads may be characterized as an agent exclusion flow forauto-assignment. Implementation of this process ensures that only agentswith appropriate attributes are assigned leads as part of the “automatedassignment” process.

Another factor that may be used when performing the automated assignmentof sales leads may be characterized as agent performance profile (agentscoring model). This process calculates the relative likelihood of anagent converting a lead. When 2 or more agents are “eligible to receivea lead” per the “agent exclusion flow for auto-assignment” processesdescribed above, the implementation of this unique “scoring model”ensures that the “agent most likely to convert the lead” receives thelead.

Another factor that may be used when performing the automated assignmentof sales leads may be characterized as assignment waves. This processsegments eligible leads and then prioritizes the segments to ensureleads with optimal opportunity to convert are assigned first, as part ofthe “automated assignment” process.

In accordance with embodiments of the invention, the systems and methodsprovide for auto-assignment for large lead volumes to a large number ofusers. Position, along with new business rules and logic, significantlyreduce the time to assign leads to call centers. Further, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention, each territory may be set at alead “cap” limit based upon a standard selection of a variety of values.This provides flexibility in choosing what is the appropriate lead caplimit based on territory. These values can be changed and are selectedfor each territory for each type of lead, i.e., A and B leads.

There is also provision provided for manual assignment of leads wherenecessary, and ability for sales support leaders and regional officemanagers to overwrite the recommended agent.

In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the systems andmethods provide a variety of features described above. These featuresalso include providing limited content on the home page to speed up pageresponse time. This may include summarized metrics to focus on agentperformance thru awareness. Further, a leads detail page displays allinformation on one page thereby not requiring users to toggle back andforth to get all the necessary information from both the leads detailand leads list pages, as described above. The systems and methods of theinvention may also provide for automatically populating primary producercode on the leads list edit page. Further, the creation of dispositionsor activities requires only one click by the user. Further featuresinclude a print leads page that can print up to 50 leads with one click,a sold leads page that separates inactive versus active inventory, andwork baskets that may be used to eliminate the need for user queries. Awide variety of other features are provided by the systems and methodsof the invention, as described herein.

It will be readily understood by those persons skilled in the art thatthe present invention is susceptible to broad utility and application.Many embodiments and adaptations of the present invention other thanthose herein described, as well as many variations, modifications andequivalent arrangements, will be apparent from or reasonably suggestedby the present invention and foregoing description thereof, withoutdeparting from the substance or scope of the invention.

Accordingly, while the present invention has been described here indetail in relation to its exemplary embodiments, it is to be understoodthat this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the presentinvention and is made to provide an enabling disclosure of theinvention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure is not intended to beconstrued or to limit the present invention or otherwise to exclude anyother such embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications orequivalent arrangements.

1-29. (canceled)
 30. A method of assigning sales leads in a networkenvironment, the sales leads relating to persons interested in effectinga purchase, the method comprising: obtaining a lead, the lead includinglead information relating to a person interested in effecting apurchase; loading the lead into a lead processing portion; assigning thelead to a sales agent upon determining that the sales agent has a leadscredit balance above a minimum value, the leads credit balance beingautomatically generated by the lead processing portion based on leadsthat an agent has converted to sales and a number of new leads that theagent has obtained, the converted leads adding to the lead creditbalance and the new leads detracting from the lead credit balance; andoutputting the lead information over the network environment to a leaddistribution portion, so as to be accessible to the sales agent.
 31. Themethod of claim 30, wherein an amount that a particular converted leadadds to the lead credit balance is based on a premium associated withthe particular converted lead, and wherein the premium associated withthe leads varies between different leads.
 32. The method of claim 30,wherein the lead distribution portion is a web based lead system. 33.The method of claim 30, wherein assigning the lead to a sales agentincludes: generating an agent score for each agent that is a candidatefor assignment of the lead; and assigning the lead to the agent with thehighest agent score, wherein the agent score being based on pastperformance of a respective agent.
 34. The method of claim 33, whereinthe agent score of a particular agent is based on conversion of leads tosales by the particular agent, the percentage of the agent's businessthat is generated by that particular agent, and position rank of theparticular agent.
 35. The method of claim 33, further including, whereintwo agents have the same agent score, randomly assigning the leadbetween such two agents.
 36. The method of claim 30, wherein the networkenvironment includes the Internet.
 37. The method of claim 30, whereinthe assigning the lead to a sales agent includes: generating a pool ofcandidate agents, which are selected from a collection of possibleagents, that are eligible to work the lead based on the leadinformation; and selecting a selected agent from the pool of candidateagents, the selected agent designated to work on the lead.
 38. Themethod of claim 30, wherein the lead information includes informationregarding endorsements associated with the lead and the territory towhich the lead is associated.
 39. The method of claim 38, wherein theassigning the lead to a sales agent further includes obtaining agentassignment criteria of each agent that is a candidate for assignment ofthe lead, the agent assignment criteria being compared to theinformation regarding endorsements associated with the lead and theterritory to which the lead is associated.
 40. The method of claim 30,wherein the method further includes determining whether telemarketingpossesses a priority over the lead, telemarketing being a call center;and determining that telemarketing does not possesses a priority overthe lead so as subsequently perform the assigning the lead to the salesagent.
 41. The method of claim 40, further including: determining thattelemarketing has priority over a second lead; and assigning the secondlead to a particular telemarketing facility, the assigning determiningwhether candidate call centers are below a lead cap.
 42. The method ofclaim 30, wherein the lead processing portion, subsequent to loading thelead, outputs leads for assignment in waves, the waves including atleast a first wave of leads that is assigned prior to subsequent wavesof leads, wherein the lead processing portion determines in which wave alead is assigned based on the lead information.
 43. The method of claim42, wherein the lead processing portion assigns all endorsed A-leads inthe first wave and assigns non-endorsed A-leads in subsequent waves. 44.The method of claim 42, wherein the lead processing portion assignsB-leads to the subsequent waves.
 45. The method of claim 44, wherein thelead processing portion assigns B-leads to a plurality of the subsequentwaves, the lead processing portion assigning the B-leads to differentwaves in the plurality of waves based on age of the B-lead.
 46. Themethod of claim 42, wherein the assigning the leads to waves includesassociating a wave code with each lead to be included in an assignmentwave, the wave code indicating which wave the particular lead is to beincluded.
 47. The method of claim 42, wherein the lead processingportion assigns A-leads to respective waves based on the age of theA-lead.